In the latest Rasmassen Report nationwide telephone survey, respondents in a three-way generic poll chose the mythical “Tea Party” over the actual Republican Party by a narrow margin. Seriously …
Democrats attracted 36 percent of the vote while the fictional Tea Party candidate picked up 23 percent, and Republicans finished third at 18 percent, with 22 percent undecided.
Among unaffiliated voters (aka independents), 33 percent preferred the Tea Party candidate and 30 percent were undecided; 25 percent would vote for a Democrat and just 12 percent prefer the GOP.
Among Republican voters, 39 percent said they’d vote for the GOP candidate, but only slightly fewer — 33 percent — favored the nonexistent Tea Party option.
Apparently, enough Republicans (at least those who would still self-identify over the phone as such) are fed up with the nasty hyper-conservative bent of their party that they dream of a third-party option. Of course, they’re going to have to keep on dreaming the nightmare that the Republican Party has become for anyone with a moderate bone in their body.
In May, a Time magazine article summed up the sorry state of Mr. Lincoln’s party this way:
Polls suggest that only one-fourth of the electorate considers itself Republican, that independents are trending Democratic and that as few as five states have solid Republican pluralities. And the electorate is getting less white, less rural, less Christian — in short, less demographically Republican.
And besides, in real numbers, the Tea Bag Party would be tiny. Though if it were something besides a figment of Fox News’ imagination, the Tea Bag Party, as of last April, numbered less than 112,000, based on crowd estimates at town hall events and teabagger rallies.
But given the current state of Republican flight from the party — even Joe the Plumber has quit it — A “Teabag Party,” even if it remains merely an ideology around which people can rally, could be a potent political force the Republicans will have to deal with.
Well, you do reap what you sow. The Republican Party actively recruited those who comprise the tea parties into their midst, and now, the guests have decided to throw out their hosts, so it will have to deal with the consequences.