CNN Poll: Republicans Believe Perry Has Best Chance To Beat Obama

Rick Perry news this morning comes by way of a new CNN poll which shows that Republicans think Governor Rick Perry has the best chance to beat Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election with a double digit lead on all other GOP candidates.

Other findings:

"Perry doesn't simply have the most support in a hypothetical ballot - he also tops the list of GOP candidates on every personal quality tested," adds Holland.

Thirty-six percent, for example, see him as the strongest leader in the field, with Romney second at 21 percent. According to the poll, 35 percent say Perry is the Republican candidate most likely to get the economy moving again, with Romney in second at 26 percent.

Nearly three in ten say that Perry is the candidate who is most likely to fight for his beliefs, with Palin in second place at 23 percent and, significantly, Romney in a distant tie for fourth at just 11 percent.

But Perry's biggest strength may be the electability factor, with 42 percent saying he has the best chance of beating Obama next year. Some 26 percent say Romney has the best chance of defeating the president.

"That may go a very long way toward explaining his rise in the polls, since three-quarters of all Republicans say they would prefer a candidate who can beat President Obama over one who agrees with them on major issues," says Holland.

Concerning for Perry, is likability factor where one in four rate him well, especially if he does end up winning the GOP nomination.

While Barack Obama receives high disapproval ratings on all key issues , his personal likability still rates well.

Voters like the man, they just think he is doing a bad job as President.

If Obama and Perry go head to head in 2012, voters would have to decide if they prefer someone that can get the job done or someone they like but has proven he cannot do the job.

Perry, via USA Today, has a piece where he explains the truth behind his Social Security messaging:

These are the hard facts: Social Security's unfunded liability is calculated in the trillions of dollars. Last year, annual Social Security outlays exceeded annual revenues for the first time since 1983. The Congressional Budget Office projects that outlays will be roughly 5% greater than revenues over the next five years, worsening as more and more Baby Boomers retire.

By 2037, retirees will only get roughly 76 cents back for every dollar that is put into Social Security unless reforms are implemented. Imagine how long a traditional retirement or investment plan could survive if it projected investors would lose 24% of their money?

I am going to be honest with the American people. Our elected leaders must have the strength to speak frankly about entitlement reform if we are to right our nation's financial course and get the USA working again.

This is a hard topic for any candidate because as soon as they address Social Security reform, their opponents, whether they are GOP rivals or opposing party rivals instantly start screaming "he hates old people" or "he wants to kill grandma".

Perry's honesty may be paying off though in his refusal to back down on the topic as Campaign 2012 points out, the CNN poll shows a high level of support for Perry from GOP voters age 65 and older.

In a new CNN poll that finds Perry at the front of the Republican pack, the Texas governor's lead among GOP voters age 65 and older is actually bigger than his lead among younger voters. Fifty-two percent of respondents over 65 say Perry is their choice for president, versus just 21 percent who choose Romney. In the overall numbers, Perry leads Romney 32 percent to 21 percent, with Ron Paul following at 13 percent, Bachmann and Gingrich at seven percent each, Herman Cain at six percent, and Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum at two percent each.

Republican voters over 65 also believe Perry has the best chance of defeating President Obama in next year's general election. Perry leads Romney 58 percent to 22 percent among older voters on that question.

Breaking down the age results in different categories, Perry leads Romney by 24 percent to 19 percent among GOP voters under 50. Among GOP voters 50 and older, Perry leads Romney by 41 percent to 22 percent

Stanley Kurtz from NRO gives a brief history of the Social Security/Ponzi-scheme analogy and provides examples of "quite a few very respectable liberals" having made the same analogy in recent history that Liberals are prepared to blast Perry for making now.

Quick Reminder: On Monday, Sept. 12th, CNN will broadcast the "Tea Party Republican Debate," live from Tampa, Florida at 8 p.m. ET. Follow all the issues and campaign news leading up to the debate on CNNPolitics.com and @cnnpolitics on Twitter.

Full CNN Poll results (pdf)

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Gallup- 55% to 35%, Majority More Concerned About Lack Of Spending Cuts In Debt Battle

Gallup shows Americans want some type of compromise in the debt ceiling battle but lower into the Gallup poll it shows that by a 20 point margin, 55 percent to 35 percent, the majority "say they worry more that the government would raise the debt ceiling without plans for major spending cuts, than that the government would not raise the ceiling and an economic crisis would ensue."

The question: Which concerns you more: The government would not raise the debt ceiling and a major economic crisis would result, or the government would raise the debt ceiling but without plans for major cuts in future spending?

55 percent of respondents are more concerned about the lack of spending cuts than about any crisis that would result in no debt limit increase.

Bottom Line

Americans would like their representatives in Washington to compromise and get a debt agreement in place before the Aug. 2 deadline, but at the same time are concerned that any such agreement include major spending cuts.

Now, answer it out loud folks.. which party is fighting very publicly for spending cuts and which party is fighting against making those cuts?

Generic Presidential Poll: Republican 47%, Obama 39%

Gallup shows the first statistically significant lead in a poll asserting that a generic Republican candidate, the "Republican Party's candidate for president" receives support from 47 percent of registered voters than Obama does at 39 percent.

That lead is higher among Independents, with the Republican candidate coming in ahead 10 percent . (44 percent to 34 percent)

Polling this far away from the presidential election is not indicative one way or another as to whether Obama can or will be reelected, but polls do provide a snapshot on public opinion today as well as providing patterns and trends, which barring a major turnaround, can be predictive of which direction voters are heading in.

More at Gallup.

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The GOP Will Never Get Majority of Jewish Vote And They Don't Need It

Something to keep in mind- Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election against John McCain by 7 percentage points.

Recently it was reported that Barack Obama has lost some Jewish support due to his missteps regarding Israel.

Today Gallup headlines with "Solid Majority of Jewish Americans Still Approve of Obama."

It is well known that Jewish Americans, with a majority, favor the Democratic party and have for decades.

Keeping in mind that Obama won in 2008 with a 7 percent margin, the internals of the recent Gallup poll should seriously concern Barack Obama heading into his 2012 reelection campaign.

According to Gallup, 60 percent of U.S. Jews approve of Obama. In 2009, right after Obama won the election and took office, that number was 83 percent. In two-and-a half years Obama has lost the approval of 23 percent of American Jews.

Obama has also dropped 20 percent in approval with national adults in the same time frame.



The GOP doesn't need the majority of the Jewish vote to take back the White House in 2012, they simply need the majority of those that no longer approve of Barack Obama's job performance, added with the national adults that do not approve of Barack Obama's policies.

According to Gallup and Rasmussen, both in June 2011, a Generic Republican would beat Obama in the presidential election if it were held today, by a 4 to 5 percent margin.

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Obama Still Hitting New Polling 'Lows' On Economy

According to the latest McClatchy-Marist poll, despite 50 percent of voters having a favorable impression of Obama with 44 percent having an unfavorable impression, and a majority believing Obama inherited the problems, 58 percent of voters disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy with only 37 percent of voters approving.

So, voters like Obama personally, they understand he inherited the problem but they are unhappy with how he has handled the problem.

Breakdown:

Independents- 60 percent disapprove of Obama on economy
Republicans- 91 percent disapprove of Obama on economy
Democrats- 31 percent of Democrats disapprove of Obama on economy

Other findings show that more disapprove of the job Obama is doing (47%) than approve (45%) and 61 percent of the voters disapprove of how Obama is handling the budget deficit.


Related: Dems Have No Plan For Jobs, Concerns of Middle-Class Families

Much of this discontent stems from Washington Democrats’ reliance on failed ‘stimulus’ policies over responsible, long-term solutions to address the key cost-of-living issues facing families and small businesses:

	Democrats who run Washington	Republicans
High gas prices	No plan.	Republicans’ American Energy Initiative is focused on stopping government policies that drive up energy prices and removing barriers to job-creating energy production.
Skyrocketing health care costs	No plan.	Republicans have voted to repeal the job-crushing health care law, and are working to replace it with common-sense reforms to lower costs and protect jobs.
Cost of creating jobs	No plan.	Republicans’ Plan for America’s Job Creators builds on the Pledge to America with measures designed to get government out of the way so our economy can get back to creating jobs.
Cost of government	No plan.	Republicans’ Path to Prosperity budget pays down our debt over time and lays the foundation for long-term private-sector job growth.

Source Speaker.gov.

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Wall Street Journal/NBC Poll Blows 'Mediscare' Media Meme Out Of The Water

38 percent of Americans are more likely to vote for a candidate that supports "changing Medicare for those under 55 to a system where people choose their insurance from a list of private health plans and the government pays a fixed amount, sometimes called a voucher, towards that cost," and 37 percent would be less likely to vote for a candidate that supports Paul Ryan's Medicare reform plan.

The Weekly Standard explains the numbers from the Wall Street Journal/NBC Poll:

If that number stands, that's pretty great news for Republicans.

And one could even quibble with the question wording. It uses the much feared "voucher" word, which Ryan's reform technically isn't. And it simply says future beneficiaries could put their voucher toward "private health plans," potentially leaving the wrong impression that some seniors could be denied coverage in the open marketplace. The private plans would be regulated by the government and required to offer coverage to all beneficiaries.

I wonder what the numbers would have shown had the poll question been phrased accurately?

Better news for Republicans is in this latest poll also as WS continues to explain:

.....While Ryan's Medicare reform is a wash, the poll shows that Obamacare is much more unpopular. By a 12-point margin (47% to 35%), respondents say they're more likely to vote for a candidate who favors repealing the "health care reform law." And 50% of respondents say they're less likely to vote for a candidate who supports the individual mandate, while 31% are more likely to vote for that candidate.

The media's favorite meme of late has been how the public is scared of Paul Ryan's plan, yet the numbers, even with a question phrased to misrepresent the plan, are still proving that media meme wrong.

Evidently the public is not as stupid as liberals and the media seem to think they are.

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Gallup: 44 Percent For Generic Republican, 39 Percent For Obama

Earlier we described some devastating news for Obama and Gallup just provided some more.

Forty-four percent of registered voters say they are more likely to vote for "the Republican Party's candidate" and 39% for Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, according to Gallup's June update.

Gallup does not consider the 5 percentage point lead statistically significant but with 17 months until the 2012 presidential election and Obama's dwindling poll numbers, rising unemployment, high foreclosures, tanking economy, increased gas prices and an out of control deficit, the numbers do not look good for Barack Obama heading into 2012.

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The 'Anyone But Obama' Mindset

The Daily Caller reports on a new USA Today/Gallup poll which shows the difference 2 1/2 years of an Obama presidency can make in the mindset of voters.

Four years ago, Republicans and Independents that lean Republican wanted a candidate they were most aligned with on issues.

Today, Gallup finds that the mindset is "anyone but Obama".

A USA Today/Gallup poll released Sunday found that Republican and Republican leaning independents would prefer the candidate who can beat Obama rather than the one who they most agree with on issues. The poll gives an insight into how voters are thinking about this largely unsettled primary field, and seems to bode well for Mitt Romney, who is currently the frontrunner in most polls.

Other Gallup findings:

U.S. Subgroups Say Economy, Jobs Are Most Important Problem

Romney Support Up; Widens Advantage in 2012 Preferences



Anyone but Obama items like the teddy bear above, hats, bumper stickers, pins and T-shirts at Cafe Press-- No, I am not making money highlighting them, I am doing it because I too believe that anyone but Obama is better than Obama.

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Obama Gets Low Marks From Vets And Active Military

Quick link to the Gallup poll which finds that Barack Obama, Commander-in-Chief, gets lower marks from Veterans and Active Military members than the overall civilian population.



Noel Sheppard over at NewsBusters seems to get the irony of the Gallup poll timing considering that just this weekend Time magazine's Joe Klein tried to float the idea that Obama has a better relationship with the military than George Bush did.

BlackFive explains the "Cognitive dissonance" between people like Klein and, well, reality.

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Majority Of Americans Not In Favor Of Obama’s Illegal Alien Nation

First the numbers, via Rasmussen:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 59% of Likely U.S. Voters favor a cutoff of federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities. Just 28% are opposed and 13% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

However, only 29% of voters think Congress is even somewhat likely to agree to cut off funds to cities that provide sanctuary for illegal immigrants. Twice as many, 55% say Congress is unlikely to take such an action. Those figures include 9% who say Congress is Very Likely to act and 11% who say action is Not At All Likely. Seventeen percent (17%) are not sure.

Regardless of Congressional action, 58% of voters think the U.S. Justice Department should take legal action against cities that provide sanctuary for illegal immigrants. Twenty-six percent (26%) are opposed to having the Justice Department prosecute sanctuary cities and 16% are not sure. Those figures have changed little since last summer.

As Obama is in Texas harping on "the broken immigration system", polling shows that the majority of Americans want something done about Sanctuary cities, to the point of wanting them punished for refusing to obey the law.

What is the Obama administration doing to those that are flaunting their refusal?

Not a thing.

Liberal officials in both Illinois and San Francisco last week announced that they will no longer participate in the the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program, preferring instead to allow criminal illegal aliens to roam the streets. While the White House has not responded to the immigration retreat, some in Congress want action. “The Obama administration has said that states and localities cannot opt out of Secure Communities, so the administration should make sure that all states comply with this mandatory program,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith told me Monday.

[...]

Officially, DHS and ICE insist that they are strong supporters of the program. “Secure Communities is a critical part of transforming our approach to immigration enforcement by focusing our resources on those in our country illegally, who have also broken criminal laws,” said ICE Public Affairs Director Brian Hale. And while DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano has said that local states and cities do not have the right to opt out of the program, she has not done anything to enforce the requirement that lawbreaking illegals be held until ICE can take custody.

Unofficially, the Obama administration will not force states or cities to adhere to the federal program. Illinois and San Francisco can let their criminal illegals out of jail immediately after booking, without checking their fingerprints with the DHS database, and there are no consequences from Washington.

More from Rasmussen:

Just 17% support the creation of sanctuary cities in which some illegal immigrants are not turned over to federal immigration authorities unless they are convicted of committing a felony crime. Sixty-five percent (65%) oppose the establishment of sanctuary cities. Nearly one-in-five voters (18%) are undecided about them. This marks little change from October 2009.

[...]

A number of U.S. cities, ranging from big ones like Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City to smaller ones like Cambridge, Massachusetts; Austin, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico, have either declared themselves sanctuary cities or refuse to work with federal immigration authorities as police department policy.

Once again, Barack Obama is refusing to enforce the laws of the country when the majority of voters want those laws enforced, yet he dares give speeches talking about "the broken system" and suggests amnesty for illegals?

Enforce the laws on the books, punish those refusing to obey the laws instead of states like AZ that are trying to deal with the system breakdown and the Obama administration's incompetence and unwillingness to protect our borders and then and only then talk about "reform".

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Economy, Spending And Budget Deficit The Top Concerns For Americans

The question Gallup posed for their survey on what concerns Americans the most was "Next, I am going to read a list of problems facing the country. For each one, please tell me if you personally worry about this problem a great deal, only a little or not at all."

Economy- 71 percent listed the economy as their greatest concern, 22 percent listed it as fair amount and only 7 percent as only a little/not at all.

Federal Spending and the Budget Deficit- 64 percent listed Federal Spending and the Budget Deficit as their greatest concern, 23 percent listed it as fair amount and only 12 percent as only a little/not at all.

Those are the top concerns for Americans.

Gallup's bottom line

Americans' economic anxiety has not abated over the past year, as 7 in 10 Americans continue to tell Gallup they personally worry a great deal about the economy. This has ranked as Americans' top concern on this measure since 2008. Healthcare led the list from 2002 through 2007 and remains among the top five today.

This year's additions reveal that federal spending and the budget deficit worry Americans nearly as much as the economy. The interesting distinction is that all three party groups worry about the economy, while the deficit concerns far more Republicans and independents than Democrats.

Pretty clear that Democrats are out of touch on what is the most important to most Americans, which is why their problem is not "messaging" it is their message itself.

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Gallup: Obama's Approval Rating Fell For 2010 In All 50 States

Gallup shows that Obama's highest approval ratings are in Hawaii, MD, NY, DE, MA, RI, CA, CT, and IL with his highest approval being in DC, which is not a state unto itself but a special district overseen by federal government, but the Gallup poll counts it in separately as one.

The lowest approval ratings for Obama are in WY, ID, WV, UT, OK, AK, KY, MT, AR and KS.

Since DC has the highest at 84.4 percent approval, without it, the average of the Gallup poll would be lower, but even so, Obama's average approval is lower than in 2009 in every one of the 50 states, even those with the highest approval ratings.

(Below figures represent the amount of percentage points Barack Obama has dropped from 2009 to 2010)







The average approval for Obama with the top 10 listed comes out to 61.1 percent.

The average approval for Obama with the bottom 10 listed comes out to 35.77 percent.

If you look at the Gallup page showing the figures for each individual state, you will see that only in 12 states and DC does Obama hold a 50 percent approval or higher.

In 38 states Obama is below 50 percent approval.

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Obama's New Approval Lows: Taxes, Deficit, Economy And Healthcare

The good news for Barack Obama in the latest Gallup findings is that he holds a plurality of approval on Foreign Affairs, 48 percent approve with 45 percent disapproving, handling of Egypt 47/32, Afghanistan 46/45 and Energy 43/42.

The bad news is the majority of Americans disapprove of his handling of Taxes, 54 percent disapproving with only 42 percent approving, Healthcare 56/40, Economy 60/37 and Deficit 68/27, bringing the issue of the deficit to his highest disapproval rating to date.

Click image to enlarge

Plurality being "more than" without hitting a majority (50 percent or higher)

Majority being 50 percent of higher.

Andrew Malcolm from Top of the Ticket:

Apparently, Obama's State of the Union vocabulary switch from "spending" to "investing" failed to fool even fellow Democrats.

It is telling that even during the time when Obama's approval seemed to be bouncing back after the tax deal with Republicans, even his best approval rating hasn't hit a majority.

Worth noting these figures are before Obama releases his 2012 budget proposal on Friday.

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Gallup Finds Liberals Still Smallest Ideological Group In America

Conservatives continue to outnumber Liberals in ideological demographics with almost double the numbers of Gallup poll respondents self identifying as Conservative than does Liberal.

40 percent identify as Conservative, 21 percent identify as Liberal and 35 percent identify as Moderate.



Gallup breaks it down further, showing that those that consider themselves very Conservative are 10 percent and those that consider themselves very Liberal are 6 percent.

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Andrew Malcolm Amused Over Polls On GOP Takeover That Hasn't Happened Yet

Ok, this is truly amusing and Andrew Malcolm over at LA Times' Top of the Ticket does a spectacular job highlighting the idiocy of polling people on what they think about the GOP takeover of the House and declaring people are not impressed, before the GOP actually has taken control!!!



Teaser:

With Republicans still 20 days away from taking control of one chamber of Congress, the House of Representatives, the Washington Post could no longer resist delivering the polling news that Americans are not yet convinced the GOP is the party for them.

The bold headline: "Public is not yet sold on GOP"

Imagine, waiting for the 63 new House Republicans to actually take the oath on Jan. 4 and perhaps find their seats before polling on what dismal failures they are. With Democrats controlling merely the presidency and the Senate, the newly elected Republicans have yet to accomplish a single meaningful thing. And clearly the public knows it.

You simply have to go read the whole thing.

Kudos Andrew!!

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The 111th Congress Goes Out With Lowest Approval Ratings In 36 Years

[Update] Help stop the Omnibus bill that Reid is trying to shove through, go here, scroll to the bottom and start dialing please.

As the 111th Congress goes out with the new 112th Congress ready to take the reins in January, Gallup finds that the Democratically controlled Congress has hit the lowest point in job approval in 36 years.

Only 13 percent of Americans approve of the the job performance of the current Congress and 83 percent disapprove.

I bet these numbers would have been lower had Gallup waied just one more week!!

The prior low approval rating for Congress was 14% in July 2008 when the United States was dealing with record-high gas prices and the economy was in recession.

The current results are based on a Dec. 10-12 Gallup poll, conducted as Congress is finishing work on an important lame-duck session. The session has been highlighted by the agreement on taxes forged last week by President Obama and Republicans in Congress. The tax deal preserves the 2001 and 2003 income tax rates for all Americans for two years, revises the estate tax, extends unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed for a year, and reduces payroll taxes for American workers. It is expected to pass despite vocal opposition from some lawmakers.

Americans are generally more positive than negative toward the deal, but many Democrats in Congress oppose it.

I suppose those numbers could have been lower had Gallup waited a week so the reality of the newly unveiled Senate Omnibus bill could have set into American's minds.

News reports show it is a $1.1 trillion bill with 6,600 earmarks costing approximately $8 billion.

Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas issued a statement in regards to this mess of an omnibus bill:

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, responded in a statement, saying that after neglecting to pass a budget, "today we learn Senate Democrats now want to sandwich them together, totaling almost 2,000 pages, and jam them through in the waning moments of this lame duck session before anyone can read them. This political end-around reveals just how quickly my colleagues across the aisle have already forgotten the voters' message in November."

Though none of the spending bills has passed the Senate, all the individual appropriations bills have been through the full committee process. In an afternoon release, the Appropriations Committee website listed all of the requested earmarks, winnowed into separate categories that go into making up the 12 separate annual spending bills.

If Republicans want to see the projected approval rating jump in January as they take control of the House of Representatives and five additional senators are seated in the Senate, they must block this bill, force Democrats to pass a stop gap bill to keep government running until January or February, then introduce the appropriate spending bills without the massive pork aka earmarks when Republicans control the House.

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Kaiser Poll: 49 Percent Want Partial Or Full Repeal Of Obamacare

New Kaiser polling, conducted after the midterms show that 49 percent of Americans want a partial or full repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act aka Obamacare, with a quarter waiting portions repealed and 24 percent wanting the full law repealed. Only 40 percent of those questions want Obamacare expanded or leaving it as it is. Those numbers break down to 21 percent wanting it expanded and 19 percent wanting it left as it.

Among those that voted in the midterms, 56 percent wants Obamacare repealed in part or in full.

Unsurprisingly, two-thirds of the general public want the individual mandate, the portion where Government forces Americans to buy insurance or face penalties, repealed.

There is agreement on small portions of the bill on specific issues such as pre-existing conditions, credits for small business as two examples.

Had the original Obamacare bill included those and left it at a small, functional, bipartisan bill, it probably would not have cost Democrats that pushed the 2309 page badly written Obamacare bill through both House of the Democratically controlled congress on a straight party line Democrat vote, so many House seats on November 2, 2010.

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Gallup's Likely Voter Turnout Models Give Republicans Double Digit Leads

Gallup:

Gallup's generic ballot for Congress among registered voters currently shows Republicans with 46% of the vote and Democrats with 43%, similar to the 46% to 46% tie reported a week ago. However, in Gallup's first estimates among likely voters, based on polling from Sept. 23-Oct. 3, Republicans have a double-digit advantage under two separate turnout scenarios.



Breakdown analysis:

Within both likely voter pools, Republicans are highly likely to vote for the Republican candidate, and Democrats for the Democratic candidate. Independents in both likely voter models skew strongly toward the Republican candidate. Gallup has found independent registered voters consistently preferring Republican candidates throughout the campaign.

The GOP is positioned to do very well in the midterms, they need a 39 seat net gain in the House to take control, which seems likely and a 10 seat net gain in the Senate which seems less likely.

Taking either of the those will put a stop to the Democrats attempts to jam through Barack Obama's agenda though.

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Majority Distrusts Media and Plurality Says Media Is Too Liberal

Gallup:

For the fourth straight year, the majority of Americans say they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly. The 57% who now say this is a record high by one percentage point.

[...]

Nearly half of Americans (48%) say the media are too liberal, tying the high end of the narrow 44% to 48% range recorded over the past decade. One-third say the media are just about right while 15% say they are too conservative.

Those findings explain this sentence from Gallup perfectly:

Democrats and liberals remain far more likely than other political and ideological groups to trust the media and to perceive no bias.

Despite John Kerry's claim that voters are too uninformed, it seems Americans are watching, noticing and calling the media out on their liberal bias, hence distrusting them to report the news accurately and see them nmore as Democratic cheerleaders.

Sounds pretty informed to me.

Democrats In Denial About Tea Party Phenomenon

CSM reports on a new poll showing the favorability rating of the Tea Party on the rise with Americans.

Forty-four percent of Americans now see the upstart "tea party" movement in a favorable light, according to a new Christian Science Monitor/TIPP poll.

What's more, about 40 percent of tea party sympathizers say they would not attend a tea party event, meaning they are essentially "closet admirers" of the small-government movement, says TIPP pollster Raghavan Mayur.

"The general party line says the tea party is fringe, but I think most of the public hasn't bought that point of view ... and sees the tea party movement in a positive to neutral light," says Mr. Mayur, president of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence in Ramsey, N.J., who last weekend oversaw the poll of 908 American adults. "The overarching message here is that Democrats have been in denial about the tea party [phenomenon] … and I think it's coming back to haunt them."

Never has that denial on the part of Democrats been highlighted more than Nancy Pelosi trying to spin the recent Tea Party upsets in the GOP primaries by saying she thinks Tea Party wins are positive for Democrats.

I definitely want some of what Pelosi is smoking!!!!

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