New Poll Shows Tea Party Support Declining

Less than 18 months after it helped give Republicans control of the House, the tea party movement finds itself losing popular support, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.

The poll found that 41 percent of Americans still identify as supporters of the low-tax, limited-government movement, down from a high of 47 percent last September. Half of those polled said that the more they hear about the tea party, the less they like it, compared to 27 percent who say that they like it more.

Much of the decline in tea party backing can be traced to younger voters, the poll found. Support has dropped among young adults from 51 percent to 31 percent since last fall.

The poll, produced by Langer Research Associates, found six in 10 Americans aren’t particularly interested in additional information about the tea Party, and 41 percent aren’t interested “at all.” Thirty-nine percent have at least some interest, but just 9 percent are very interested. Among those with interest, more than six in 10 already support it.

The poll was conducted by telephone April 5-8, among a random national sample of 1,003 adults, including landline and cell-phone-only respondents. Results have a margin of sampling error of 4 points.