Opinion on the tea party has flipped since a year ago, one survey suggests. Poll: Tea party support cools

More Americans now say that they disagree than agree with the tea party, and even those who live in districts represented by tea party members are split over the movement, according to a new survey.

Twenty-seven percent of those surveyed say they disagree with the tea party movement, compared with 20 percent who agree with it, the Pew Research Center found.


Opinion on the issue has flipped since a year ago, when 27 percent agreed and 22 percent disagreed with the movement.

Even voters in districts represented by one of the 60 congressional Tea Party Caucus members were split on the movement. In those districts, 23 percent disagreed with the tea party, while 25 percent agreed.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party’s image also has dropped substantially over the past year.

Among the general public, 36 percent viewed the GOP favorably, down from 42 percent in March. On the other hand, 55 percent viewed the Republican Party unfavorably, up from 51 percent over the year-ago period.

Favorability ratings were not much better for the GOP in tea party districts — 48 percent viewed the Republican Party unfavorably, compared with 41 percent who viewed them favorably.

The Pew Research Center survey was conducted Nov. 9-14 and surveyed an average of 287 people in each tea party district it examined. The margin of error in this poll is high among the district-level samples, at plus or minus 7 percentage points.