Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

The demise of the Tea Party movement has been predicted since its inception in early 2009.  There has been a non-stop demonization of the movement led by Democrats and the media, but frequently joined by party Republicans. There also have been many misleading headlines based on cherry-picked polling, as I demonstrated recently, Congrats @Gallup for inspiring these 5 misleading anti-Tea Party headlines. As to the debt ceiling and budget showdown, you can find what you want in the polling to argue either side. The AP-GFK poll just released found Republicans being blamed more than Democrats, but also found Obama's job approval tanking.   A Pew Survey released a couple of days ago also found Republicans blamed more but by a closer margin, and that there is a large and growing segment who blames both sides or neither. Here's a headline, based on the data in the AP-GfK poll, you probably will not see:

Americans overwhelmingly would choose smaller government, fewer services

Yeah, you heard that right.  60% of those surveyed wanted smaller government, fewer services if the only other choice were bigger government, more services.  That core value, which transcends party lines, is the Tea Pary core value (not even the Republican core value).

 

Here's another headline, based on the data in the AP-GfK poll, you probably will not see:

Most Americans agree with Tea Party on debt ceiling increase

You read that right.  41% of those surveyed said the debt ceiling should be raised only if conditioned on significant budget cuts plus another 10% who said it should not be raised for any reason. 

I'm not buying the argument that Republicans are committing suicide, even when the argument is made by Republicans. The polling is much tighter than in 1995, when public opinion shift dramatically against Republicans (although it swung back by the next election). From the Pew Survey: