Friday, April 29th, 2011
Gallup polling released new survey results on Friday, showing that negative opinions of the so-called tea party movement have risen sharply in the US. Independent voters have turned away from the conservative group.
The poll shows that only a core constituency of Republicans and conservatives now view the fledgling political movement positively.
The organization began tracking the tea party just over a year ago in March of 2010. At that time, the ultra conservative group had a 37% favorable and 40% unfavorable rating.
Those numbers stayed flat until January of this year when the first round of tea party supporting legislators were sworn in to the U.S. Congress.
According to Gallup, "The April 20-23 USA Today/Gallup poll finds favorable opinions of the Tea Party movement dropping to 33%, from 39% in January, and unfavorable opinions rising to 47% from 42%."
Men 50 and older count for the strongest base of support for the political group, whereas women 50 and older poll most strongly against it. The number of tea party members has remained stagnant, with the heaviest concentrations in the southern states.