Forty-two percent of those surveyed said that listening to tea party ideas was 'very important.' Poll: GOP should listen to tea party

Seven in 10 Americans would like to see Republican leaders in Congress consider the tea party movement’s ideas as they confront the country’s challenges, a new poll has found.

In a Gallup/USA Today polling released Monday, 71 percent of those surveyed said they want to see GOP leaders look to tea party positions when developing policy. Forty-two percent said that listening to tea party ideas was “very important,” while another 29 percent said it was “somewhat important.”


Support for congressional GOPers to adopt tea party positions was strongest among Republicans, with 88 percent saying it was important for party leadership to take tea party ideas into account. Fifty-three percent said it was very important and 35 percent said it was somewhat important.

Independents were less supportive, with 46 percent saying tea party ideas were very important for congressional Republicans and 26 percent saying they were somewhat important.

Though just 6 percent of Democrats surveyed said they support the tea party movement, and only 11 percent had a positive view of it, 51 percent said they think it is very important or somewhat important that GOP leaders listen to the movement’s ideas.

The poll did not ask respondents why they thought Republicans ought to consider tea party ideas; nor did it include a description of what “tea party ideas” actually were — leaving respondents to decide for themselves. The movement draws on populist sentiments and pushes an agenda focused on reducing taxes, government spending and the national debt.

The poll surveyed 1,032 adults from Jan. 14-16. The error margin is plus or minus four percentage points.