Tea-Party Movement Gains Force - WSJ.com###

Tea-Party Movement Gains Force - WSJ.com###

The tea party has emerged as a potent force in American politics and a center of gravity within the Republican Party, with a large majority of Republicans showing an affinity for the movement that has repeatedly bucked the GOP leadership this year, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has found.

In the survey, 71% of Republicans described themselves as tea-party supporters, saying they had a favorable image of the movement or hoped tea- party candidates would do well in the Nov. 2 elections.

Already, the tea-party movement has helped to oust a number of incumbents and candidates backed by party leaders in this year's GOP primaries amid complaints that they lacked commitment to small-government principles. The poll findings suggest that the rising influence of the movement, with its push to cut spending and oppose the Democratic agenda, will drive the GOP to become more conservative and less willing to seek common ground on policy.

"These are essentially conservative Republicans who are very ticked-off people," said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart.

62 Percent of Women and 63 of Men Give Obama Negative Marks, Harris Poll Finds | CNSnews.com

62 Percent of Women and 63 of Men Give Obama Negative Marks, Harris Poll Finds | CNSnews.com

There is no gender gap when it comes to President Obama, according to a Harris Interactive Poll released Monday. Both sexes now give the president the same negative ratings on job performance.

According to Harris Interactive, 62 percent of women and 63 percent of men say the give the president negative ratings. That parallels the overall negative rating of 62 percent disapproval of the job he’s doing,

Harris asked 2,620 adults "How would you rate the overall job President Barack Obama is doing?" in an online survey between September 14 and 20.

Though 47 percent of Easterners and 42 percent of Westerners gave him positive marks, nearly seven in 10 Southerners (68 percent) and two-thirds of Midwesterners (67 percent) gave Obama negative ratings halfway into his presidency.

63 percent of college grads and 65 percent of those with a high school diploma had negative views.

The Tea Party is now more powerful than President Obama

The Tea Party is now more powerful than President Obama

Who would have predicted this a year ago? Certainly not the complacent army of White House spin doctors who have failed to grasp, let alone acknowledge, the momentous political transformation that is sweeping America. CNN’s latest poll confirms that the Tea Party movement has more political clout than the President of the United States in influencing voters during this November’s mid-terms. While just 37 percent of Americans are more likely to vote for a candidate if backed by Barack Obama, a far larger 50 percent will vote for a Tea-Party endorsed candidate.

As CNN puts it:

A solid majority of all Americans — 56 percent — say that Obama has fallen short of their expectations. As a result, the president is not in a position to help struggling Democratic candidates; only 37 percent of likely voters say they are more likely to vote for a congressional candidate backed by Obama.

In contrast, half of all likely voters now say they are likely to choose a candidate supported by the conservative Tea Party — contributing to the GOP’s 53 to 44 percent lead when such voters are asked which party’s candidate they will choose in November.