Tea Party Is Seen by Majority of Voters As a Serious and Not a Fringe Group

The Tea Party movement, which right now is holding its first national convention in Nashville, is regarded as a serious and not a fringe group by a majority of Americans, according to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted Feb. 2-3. It is seen favorably by 35 percent of voters and unfavorably by 22 percent, But a plurality were unable to offer a positive or negative opinion because they didn't know enough or never heard of it.

Twenty percent were in the "can't say" category and 22 percent never heard of the movement. The numbers for independents were about the same for the overall electorate. Among Republicans, 55 percent saw the movement favorably while 9 percent regarded it unfavorably, with 18 percent expressing no opinion and 18 percent saying they never heard of the Tea Party. Democrats saw the Tea Party unfavorably by 36 percent to 15 percent with 24 percent registering no opinion and 26 percent saying they never heard of it.

Fifty-one percent consider the Tea Party activists a serious group, 20 percent regard them as a fringe group, 5 percent say they are a combination of the two and 24 percent don't know.

Looking at the results along partisan lines, 69 percent of Republicans said the Tea Partiers were a serious group with only 6 percent putting them on the fringe. Fifty-two percent of independents regarded them as a serious group while 17 percent labelled them as fringe. Thirty-five percent of Democrats call the Tea Party a fringe group compared to 34 percent who regard them as serious, with 5 percent calling it a combination of both and 27 percent saying they didn't know.

The poll also had Republicans moving ahead of Democrats on a generic ballot where voters were asked which party they wanted to win this year's congressional elections. Forty-one percent sided with the Republicans, 36 percent supported the Democrats, 11 percent chose neither and 12 percent were undecided. Independents favored the Republicans 32 percent to 23 percent with 22 percent choosing neither and 22 percent undecided. Last month, Democrats and Republicans were statistically tied. (See below for results from other pollsters on the generic ballot).

Thirty-eight percent of Republicans say they are extremely interested in the midterm elections compared to 22 percent of Democrats -- a bad sign for the Democrats on the enthusiasm front.

Asked who they would choose if presented with a choice between the current officeholder in an election and a new candidate, 38 percent chose the new candidate, 19 percent favored the current officeholder, 34 percent answered that their selection would depend on other factors, and 9 percent were undecided. Independents and Republicans went for the new candidate by margins of about 3-to-1 while Democrats favored the new candidate by a 31 percent to 25 percent margin with the balance saying it "depends" or didn't know.

Fifty-nine percent say that Democratic losses in the Massachusetts Senate race and last fall's two gubernatorial elections were meant to send a message to President Obama while only 22 percent believed the outcome had to do with the candidates and issues. That view was held across party lines and among independents.

Other poll results for generic congressional ballots (The NPR date was the day the results were released; all other dates reflect when the polls were conducted):

National Public Radio (Jan. 26): Republicans 44 percent, Democrats 39 percent, 5 percent choosing neither and 5 percent undecided.

Wall Street Journal/NBC News (Jan. 23-25): Democrats 44 percent, Republicans 42 percent, not sure 14 percent.

Public Policy Polling (Jan. 18-19): Republicans 45 percent, Democrats 42 percent, undecided 13 percent.

Rasmussen Reports (Jan. 11-17): Republicans 46 percent, Democrats 37 percent.

CNN/Opinion Research (Jan. 8-10): Republicans 46 percent, Democrats 45 percent, neither 6 percent, no opinion 2 percent.

Pew Research Center (Jan. 6-10): Democrats 46 percent, Republicans 44 percent.

Associated Press/GfK (Jan. 12-17): Democrats 49 percent, Republicans 37 percent, don't care 10 percent, no opinion 4 percent.

Gallup (Dec. 11-13): Democrats 48 percent, Republicans 45 percent.

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