Try calling people in fly-over country, rather than downtown Detroit...

I think OP nails it.

The Tea Party isn´t a club with membership cards and dues...it´s a concept, an idea, a desire of like minded people to return to the values that built this country.

Whom are the "they" who were interviewed? Are they the exact same people who were interviewed in April 2010?

Maybe they just asked the stragglers who still are "occupying" the cities?

The Tea Party got killed off by the deliberate and strategic drubbing they got in the media, the mockery of the very Party they were trying to support, and Dick Armey. We felt like we were fighting a losing battle. Many of you supported us with positive comments on blogs but did not want to participate. Spending the night on a Greyhound bus on a 12 hour trip to Washington is far more than a lot of people are willing to do. It is easier to just complain. And yes, I have a job.

Given the efforts of the Der Sturmer media, I am not surprised.

Maybe it´s that whole Dick Armey $400K per year for 20 years thing.

Who are these half wits asking? It is certainly not the we the People...a clear deception!

My local TEA party is growing by leaps and bounds.

The Tea Party is growing in numbers in each meeting AND in numbers of new groups forming here in a very blue state. It is so obvious the media assisting the parties to make everyone think TP is the reason the GOP are such losers. So wrong. The TP is merely getting warmed up.

...blue state I refer to here is WA state where we will be for the next year...

Theres no way anyone who agreed with the tea party in the past would feel any less threatened today. Things are far worse today than even three years ago.

Shift shaping.

I might not identify myself in a poll as a Tea Partier but I´m sure as heck never going to vote for a Democrat or another RINO.

Yea. Only 8. Nothing to worry about.

First rule of fight club.....

Who did the poll-lemmings anonymous ?

Count me and mine in that 8%. Must be like the "million man march" huh?

Nobody asked me.

The MSM has been successful in wrongly tagging Teapartiers as racist. No one wants to be thought as racist so they now run from the tea party moniker. I don´t know what we can do to counter the left´s ability to cast conservative causes and candidates as evil, corrupt or ignorant. I think it is the biggest hurdle we face. Everyone and everything conservative from Sarah Palin to Herman Cain, from Focus on the Family to the NRA gets trashed.

Libertarians are not joiners. I can´t think of anything more boring than attending a meeting. Liberals love meetings. They are so much better at political organizing. By nature and by definition, a libertarian is not a communitarian. That´s why I believe we have an illegitimate political system. It´s rigged against individual liberty in favor of government.

If someone unknown to me called and asked if I were a Tea Party member or supporter, I´d say "No." Call it paranoia, but you never know who´s on the other end of that phone or why they really want to know.

I´ll bet that an even smaller percentage told the pollsters how many guns they have, too.

Asked if I identify with the principles the MSM has pinned on what is called the Tea Party even I would deny it. But in actuality I am an avid supporter. There are millions and millions like that. AP took a poll before the elections that showed up to 24% either were members or supported the principles. Impact of the MSM on low information voters which I personally had discounted until this election is significant.

I agree with those who say they wouldn´t say they were Tea Party even if they were. The Tea Party movement is a scapegoat for the establishment GOP, the Dems and the LSM. Unless you are a friend, another member of the movement or family member you don´t need to know. There are even some family members I wouldn´t tell because they are uninformed liberals.

Our local county rag did not even cover the last Tea Party gathering before the election.
They said no one was available.

Me: How about sending out a cub reporter?
News Editor: What is a cub reporter?

Me:Don´t you think an event with 2,000 participants deserves as much news space as Aunt Martha´s quilting party?
NE: There weren´t 2,000 people there anyway.

Me: How do you know if you weren´t there to cover it?
NE: Sorry, I have another phone call.

Oh baby -- we´re here -- never you mind....

Just wait....

LZK

The Tea Party here in MA said they would not back Sen. Brown because his actions were too often backing the liberal´s spendthrift ways.
It is odd that in the last election, I really didn´t see the Tea Party in action.

8%? I don’t think so. Probably more like 78, 88 or 98%! Remember “Second Term President Flexible?” He’s now a reality, not simply a whispered pledge of furtive, surreptitious, clandestine, off-the-record, momentous mischief to come. In the vernacular, he got busted. Busted by a pesky microphone that was assumed to be closed. I’ll bet he hates when that happens.

I’m a proud Tea Party “member” although I don’t attend rallies, hold up signs, chant, have a membership card in my wallet or any official credential whatsoever. What I do have is an abiding belief in what the Tea Party stands for. I know I’m not alone.

"...whose views are closest to your own – those of the average Tea Party member or those of the average member of Congress?"
Seriously?! Someone thinks congress has it right?!

Our only hope is the Tea Party mind set, which is to hold our government accountable and reduce its size and power. If the morons are answering this poll this way, as the plans are being made to take away our guns and grab our 401ks, we have lost! This is the first time I have been discouraged enough to listen to my husband about getting out while we can!

Oh baloney. The media had a blackout on anything Tea Party hoping they´d go away. It´s not working but it´s always fun to read about these silly polls they make up.

I hear a lot of anti-Tea Party rants from nasty people who don´t know what they are talking about. Depending upon who I ask the Tea Party is the new KKK or just another name for establishment Republicans. This are the same low information/misinformation voters who reelected Obama. In this environment why would I admit to being a Tea Party member?

A member? It is a movement not an organized group, gimme a break.

Polling : another arm of the socialist propaganda machine . They´d have everyone believe the TP was an aberation , even a malignant growth . A fad . Nothing to see there now . Yest. one of them compared us to John Wilkes Booth . If I see ONE more ´ poll´....

Just like the Gestapo in Paris believed there were only a tiny fraction of the population in the French Resistance.

When that Tea Party group came out and said it would neither Romney nor Obama since neither were pure enough, and was therefore endorsing sitting out the election, I was kind of through with them. Then when that Dick Armey fight whatever it was about, with all that money trailing, I was even more through. I am for smaller government and fiscal discipline and constitutional respect, but I want nothing to do with some of these so-called Tea Party ´leaders.´ Morons.

To see the Tea Party, you need to look at the state level. This year in TX we had a US Senate primary with at one time 8 serious candidates. Ted Cruz managed to get to a run-off with the Lt Governor and win. We had similar choices to fill Ron Paul´s seat and even to fill the Railroad Commissioners seats (Railroad Commission does permitting for oil and gas drilling and pipelines). Never have I seen such participation in the civic process.

Go ahead and let them think it is 8%. Boy will they be surprised some day.

So correct about phone calls and identifying yourself as a Tea Party memeber to someone who called you. Very bad form.

Our tea party has had several encounters with banks, being called anti-government by the government, no help from the local press and the list of roadblocks is long. Yet we are still here and planning our schedule for 2013.

BTW, calling Freedom Works tea party is just plain wrong. All they did was facilitate rallies and had nice sound equipment that did help during rallies. They arranged for permits in DC for rallies and parking for buses. However, when we went to DC for a health care rally our bus driver got fined $500 for parking illegally(it was a designated spot). We even took up a collection to pay for it. Now the local bus company will not take us anymore. We have found other means, but the quality of Freedom Works´ help was diminished after that. Freedom Works was a facilitator, not Tea Party. I have no clue as what they do now, but helping out the Tea Party is not on their list apparently. That went away when the government decided we were all anti-government. They do their darndest to keep rallies from happening.
The last rally was for the Supreme Court to decide on Obamacare. There was a rally in the park beside the Senate office buildings. None of the buildings were open for rest room facilities and there wasn´t one port-o-potty. We had walk 10 minutes to Union Station. I know they thought they had us, but we aren´t stupid Senior Citizens. They forgot about Depends.

Ask if they support the spirit of the Tea Party. I´ll bet the results are quite different.

This is another of those stupid polls that strives to make another conservative group irrelevant. Yet, the media jerks will continue to talk about the Tea Party--if we are so irrelevant why do we even get a mention in their wonderful print? Amazing how much press we get for such an irrelevant group.
We are bigger and better than ever.
God Bless America and the Tea Party Patriots.

I have been quite confused by Rasmussen since the election! Before election he was reporting Obama´s popularity was -12 to -20. Now as soon as the election is over and Obama won, voila, huge approval!

My fear is that, after this last election, way too many conservatives are going to just quit the process.

Clearly we can´t win against the evil forces of ´´I want my free stuff´´.

A lot of us don´t feel like we have a party any more. After this last election and the ´´fiscal cliff´´ surrender, we sure don´t feel like the Republicans share our beliefs any more.

The Tea Party has to basically work within the Republican Party, and so we have to fight both the Demon-RATS and the RINO´s who seem to run the Republican Party these days.

I felt like my heart was ripped out on 11-6-2012. I am still in mourning.

Maybe it´s time for the Tea Party to become a real party and not just a movement. If not, our republic truly did die on November 6th...

Sorry to add the fly to the ointment, but in Fremont, CA, the tea party movement essentially died. Looks like in East Bay something similar happened. Don´t understand the reason... No money? No propaganda outlet? Strong pressure from the commies, from their mainstream media? I have to give them they are very successful suppressing not consolidated force without strong leadership and absolutely no mainstream media.

These polling results have even more sting when delivered by Rasmussen--the pollster who specialized in over-sampling the white, the old and the Republican in 2012. One of the worst polling outfits in the 2012 election--next to Fox and Gallup.

The Tea Party of 2010 was a positive movement made up of conservatives, moderates,
Democrats, independents, etc.
The uniting purpose was repealing Obamacare.
After the election of 2010-the movement went in a different direction instead of staying
focused on that one winning issue.
People who will never face the voters declared themselves
leaders of the Tea Party
and started making demands.
The uniting theme now seems to be threats and anger.
Like unions.
Do as we say or else.
We have lost any hope of controlling the Senate
because of the unelectable Tea Party candidates
in 2010 and 2012.
The Tea Party is now threatening Saxby Chambliss because he voted for the fiscal cliff package.
The movement is also now being overtaken by Ron Paul supporters.
That´s one of the reasons Armey left Freedom Works , in addition to questions
about Kibbe´s financial activities.
Matt Kibbe, the new head of FW said they are tired of
" old white guys " and want to now court “ Ron Paul Millennials ” .
The Tea Party Congressman Huelskamp and Amash who were reassigned their House committee positions ,
are Ron Paul supporters.
I never hear anything positive from Tea Party leaders.
It´s always complaints and misery
and whining and threats.
Since 2010 , Democrats have gained Senate seats
( thanks to the Tea Party ) ,
gained House seats and retained the Presidency.
The movement is going in the wrong direction and instead of taking stock, they are doubling down.

You really think I´m going to believe ANY stinkin´ POLLS after this last phony pollster election debacle? Fuh-geddabout it!
Shaddup!

It´s tea party.

No caps.

"It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." – Samuel Adams

Who wants to be lied about everyday by 100% of the media and both parties?

How come I wasn´t polled? How many people were leftout of this poll? Was this poll REALLY conducted?

I am not a TEA party member, but I support what they stand for. Since this is an Ad Hoc group or groups, not a formal organization, "member" is probably the wrong term anyhow.

Just around .oo4% of the population in 1773 carried out the original Tea Party.

8% of what, un-educated (and educated) low-info folks? The real number is a lot bigger than that.

I think the Tea Party "membership" is about to get a real big boost thanks to Obama. Like how gun manufacturers say Obama´s their best salesman, the Tea Party is going to find that Obama is their best recruiter when his failed tax and economic policies start kicking in during his second year.

Let the Left hold onto their self-indulgent fantasies for a while yet. The longer they stay pleased with themselves, the easier it is to whip their posterior the next time..

Yup, yup, 8%, that´s all, you bet. Just keep believing that. That´s fine.