How many people identify as tea party

Republican Party Favorability October Republican Party Conservatism June Direction of the Country Trend. Direction of Texas Trend. National Economic Conditions Trend. Personal Economic Conditions Trend. Conservatism of Republicans November Tea Party Identification November Tea Party Influence November Republican Party Favorability November Strength of Support for Rick Perry February Strength of Support for Debra Medina February Thermometer - The Republican Party September Support for and opposition to the Tea Party movement have been consistently divided along ideological and political lines over the last five years, with Republicans and conservatives the biggest supporters, and Democrats and liberals the strongest opponents.

A comparison of the combined results of the first two Gallup polls measuring Tea Party support, in March and May , and the two most recent polls, from this month and November of last year, reveals where support and opposition are strongest and where the most significant changes have taken place. A few groups that were more likely to be supporters than opponents in have since switched sides, including those 65 and older, and those who are married.

While support for the Tea Party has not increased among any major subgroup since , opposition to it has gone up among one -- those with postgraduate education. Meanwhile, opposition has dropped in a few groups -- to year-olds, those with low incomes and unmarried females -- because more in these groups no longer have an opinion about the Tea Party. Republicans made huge strides in the midterm elections, including increasing their majority in the House and gaining control of the Senate.

However, the Tea Party movement that had played such a huge part in the GOP's election successes was much less visible this time around. For Republicans, the decline is steepest among those who describe themselves as moderate or liberal. Over the past four months, public opinion of the Tea Party also has turned more negative across many demographic groups. The decline in positive ratings is particularly notable among whites and young people. Over the same period of time there has been little change in opinions of the Tea Party among blacks or Hispanics, who already held a negative opinion of the Tea Party in June.

As negotiations over the debt ceiling and the government shutdown continue, the images of two GOP leaders central to these negotiations have suffered among the Republican base. Since then, unfavorable views of Boehner have risen slightly among Tea Party Republicans by seven points and non-Tea Party Republicans six points. Favorable opinions of Boehner, among both groups, have changed little. As might be expected, majorities of Republicans and Republican leaners view many leading Democrats unfavorably.

Yet Tea Party Republicans stand out for the breadth of their unfavorable opinions, as well as the intensity of those views. Attitudes on this question are little different from when it was asked in April of and November of The Republican base is somewhat divided over what the Tea Party represents.

A Pew Research survey conducted in early October found that over the past two years Tea Party Republicans also have become somewhat less likely to say Republican leaders in Congress are paying too little attention to the ideas of the Tea Party. For the purposes of the poll, those who have attended a rally or donated to a group have been deemed Tea Party "activists.

Tea Party activists tend to be even angrier, more pessimistic about the country and more negative about President Obama than other Americans who identify as part of the Tea Party movement. For a breakdown of the beliefs of these activists, click here. Fifty-three percent of Tea Party supporters describe themselves as "angry" about the way things are going in Washington, compared to 19 percent of Americans overall who say they are angry.

Asked what they are most angry about, the top four answers among Tea Party supporters who identify as angry were the health care reform bill 16 percent , the government not representing the people 14 percent , government spending 11 percent and unemployment and the economy 8 percent.

More than nine in ten 92 percent say America is on the wrong track, while just six percent say the country is headed in the right direction. Fifty-nine percent of Americans overall say the country is on the wrong track.

Eighty-eight percent disapprove of President Obama's performance on the job, compared to 40 percent of Americans overall. While half of Americans approve of Mr.

Obama's job performance, just seven percent of Tea Party supporters say he is doing a good job. Asked to volunteer what they don't like about Mr. Obama, the top answer, offered by 19 percent of Tea Party supporters, was that they just don't like him. Eleven percent said he is turning the country more toward socialism, ten percent cited his health care reform efforts, and nine percent said he is dishonest.

Seventy-seven percent describe Mr. Obama as "very liberal," compared to 31 percent of Americans overall. Fifty-six percent say the president's policies favor the poor, compared to 27 percent of Americans overall. Sixty-four percent believe that the president has increased taxes for most Americans, despite the fact that the vast majority of Americans got a tax cut under the Obama administration.

Thirty-four percent of the general public says the president has raised taxes on most Americans. While most Americans 58 percent say the president understands their needs and problems, just 24 percent of Tea Party supporters agree. Just one in five say the president shares the values of most Americans. Only one percent of Tea Party supporters approve of the job Congress is doing, compared to 17 percent of Americans overall. Twenty-four percent of Tea Party supporters say it is sometimes justified to take violent action against the government.

That compares to 16 percent of Americans overall who say violence against the government is sometimes justified.