A new Rasmussen poll suggests the Tea Party movement is far more than an energetic minority in the Republican Party. In a generic three-way ballot, an unnamed Tea Party candidate fared better than the GOP candidate—23 percent to 18 percent—with the Democrat beating both with 36 percent. Does this mean the GOP is on the fringe, and the Tea Partiers are the mainstream of the American Right? (Watch an MSNBC report about a Tea Party movement movie)
Yes, but Republicans won't admit it: The GOP thinks it has the momentum, says Kyle Wingfield in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and even dreams of winning back a majority in the House in the 2010 midterm elections. But the Tea Party poll numbers indicate that "the GOP will have to work very hard to convert those voters' anti-Democrat attitude into a pro-Republican result next November."
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