In United States, Support for Tea Party Drops to New Low

After all, whatever one might think of the Tea Party it is seemingly undeniable that the movement did provide much of the enthusiasm and, most importantly, organizational support that led to the Republican victories that we have seen over the past five years.

Opposition to the movement peaked at 31 percent just ahead of last year’s midterm elections, the pollster noted.

According to the latest Gallup poll, tea party support has dropped to its lowest ever recorded level as just 17% of Americans support the extremist conservative movement.

In fact, 24 percent pf Americans now say they are opponents of the Tea Party. Among conservative Republicans, support dropped 21 points, down to 42 percent now from 63 percent in 2010.

The polling agency said that support for the Tea Party had never dropped below 25 percent until the new survey. A majority of Independents who lean Republican initially supported the tea party in 2010 polls, but they have seen a 29 point drop to 23 percent support in the two most recent polls, conducted in November 2014 and October 2015.

The Tea Party emerged in 2009 and is regarded as responsible for the Republican Party’s 2010 capture of the U.S. House of Representatives. Fifty-four percent of Americans have no feelings about the tea party, considering themselves neither supporters nor opponents. These include Republican presidential candidates Sen. It was tea partiers who forced Speaker John Boehner out of office, and the same House Republican Freedom Caucus will make life miserable for likely incoming Speaker Paul Ryan.