The Tea Party movement that propelled Republicans to victory in November shouldn’t be forgotten by GOP leaders in Congress according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll.

Gallup, which conducted the poll between Jan. 14-16, found that 71 percent of adults and 88 percent of Republicans want Republican leaders in Congress to consider Tea Party movement ideas when they are deciding on which issues to take on.

Gallup also found that while there is very little support among Democrats for the Tea Party, a majority of them thought the GOP should listen to their ideas.  While Gallup thought this might be due to Democrats thinking the Republicans should listen to their constituencies, it probably has more to do with their view that Tea Party ideas will hurt the GOP.

From Gallup

Despite Americans’ willingness to have Tea Party voices heard, it is not clear that the Republican Party benefits when Tea Party leaders publicly overshadow its own. Indeed, the GOP confronted that issue last week when Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Tea Party-sanctioned response to Obama’s State of the Union address seemed to draw attention away from the Republican Party’s official response given by Rep. Paul Ryan.

That’s what the Democrats are hoping for: a potential division within the Republican Party that will give them an opening in 2012.

Even though the Republican Party was viewed more favorably than the Tea Party by respondents by a 47-39 percent margin, a full 30 percent still identify themselves as Tea Party supporters, which is a voting bloc the Republicans can’t ignore.

The Tea Party isn’t asking that all of their ideas be adopted by all the Republicans in Congress, but they do want and deserve a seat at the table.

Share This

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

About the author

Don Irvine
Don Irvine is Chairman of Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts.

Related Posts

5 Comments for Poll: 71% of Americans Want Republicans to Consider Tea Party Ideas

Wildbird

To the GOP listen to the tea parties becuase their voters and their voting

ecoplastican

Why then must we tolerate this administration?

Ted

It appears to me that the more thoughtful and serious members of the so-called “tea party” ought to really be calling themselves “Libertarians” and supporting that political party.

A lot of tea partiers that I’ve seen seem to have just about the same mentality and seriousness of purpose as the frat boys engaging in a typical campus-wide “panty raid” of 50 years ago!

Tamarron

What does that poll even mean? Does “Consider Tea Party Ideas” mean? Or to phrase it in a away that points out the issue with this statement, what does the person polled think Tea party ideas are? Many will substitute a crude media image of the Tea Party because that is all they know, or a one sided view. While this poll could pain a very optimistic picture for the Tea Party, it doesn’t prove itself very well.

Steve

Ted, it would be great if Americans would see the light and support the Libertarian Party. I’ve been a Ron Paul fan for two decades now. Unfortunately, the Libertarian Party does a rotten job of getting their message out and an even worse job winning elections. So much so that both Ron and Rand Paul had to run as Republicans to get elected. Maybe it’s time the Libertarians gave up and joined the Tea Party instead. The Tea Party was able to come on the scene and be a major factor in months unlike the Libertarians who have had decades.