Pulse Opinion Research will conduct weekly surveys on the 2010 election for Fox News, and the latest Pulse Opinion Research survey covered five states: Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, and California.
Each state has an important Senate race in November. Each state also has made political waves in the primaries. In Delaware, Christine O’Donnell defeated longtime Republican politician Mike Castle in a stunning upset which provoked stinging rebukes from the establishment political system. In Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey, who also defeated Arlen Specter for the Republican nomination six years ago, was running so far ahead of Specter in this cycle that the longtime Republican senator left his party and became a Democrat (and then lost the Democratic primary. In Ohio, Representative Rob Portman is running as the Republican to replace a “go along” Republican, retiring Senator George Voinovich. Sharron Angle, running in a very hard fight against Sue Lowden in Nevada, won the GOP nomination and now, in some polls, leads Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Carla Fiorina likewise won the Republican nomination in California for a chance to run against a very beatable Barbara Boxer.
{modulepos inner_text_ad}
So how has the Tea Party figured into these races? In Delaware, the gutsy Christine O’Donnell had strong Tea Party support and has raised, so far, over $2 million in campaign contributions through the network of Americans who are watching this election very closely and doing all they can to help stop socialism in America. In Delaware, however, the Fox-sponsored survey shows that by a 41 percent to 26 percent margin, voters will cast ballots against the Tea Party. Paradoxically, by a 49 percent to 42 percent margin, respondents in Delaware agreed with the statement: “The federal government has gotten totally out of control and threatens our basic liberties unless we clean house and commit to drastic change.” That articulation of political philosophy seems much closer to what O’Donnell expresses than what the Democrat Coon says.
In Pennsylvania, by a 30 percent to 26 percent margin, citizens will be voting to support the Tea Party Movement. The TP will triumph by a 45 percent to 35 percent margin, if voter polls in this industrial state, which usually votes Democrat, hold true. By a much wider margin, 58 percent to 31 percent, Pennsylvanians favor a smaller government with fewer services over a larger government with more services. By a 50 percent to 42 percent margin, voters favor repealing President Obama’s signature law, health care reform. As in Delaware, it seems like voters support what the Tea Party is seeking, but are confused by negative media coverage by the establishment press. The Ohio poll does not ask directly about the Tea Party, but by a whopping 59 percent to 32 percent margin, Ohioans would support smaller government with fewer services over larger government with more services.
Nevada shows the same levels of support for smaller government with fewer services as other states. The survey also shows a surprising 25 percent of Nevadans “much less likely” to vote for Senator Reid because he is Majority Leader in the Senate. By a 60 percent to 29 percent margin, Nevadans favor an Arizona-style state immigration law, which flies in the face of Senator Reid’s recent call for citizenship for those who served in the military or attended several years of college. By a 54 percent to 40 percent margin, Nevadans favor repealing Obamacare. Despite a strong confluence of Nevadan public opinion with the Tea Party goals, by a slight margin – 27 percent to 25 percent — Nevadans are more likely to vote against the Tea Party than for it. The disconnect in public understanding of what the Tea Party professes seems particularly strong in Nevada.
Californians, who at present, according to the survey, are divided almost evenly between Senator Boxer and challenger Carly Fiorina (above left), the Republican nominee who has not backtracked from her early support for repealing ObamaCare, reducing taxes, and other similar themes common to the Tea Party. The survey does not directly ask about the Tea Party, but it does ask if voters favor reducing government and enacting Arizona-style immigration laws. In both instances, Californians take what would be considered Tea Party positions, although by closer margins. They want smaller government with fewer services by a 53 percent to 34 percent margin and they favor an Arizona-style immigration law by a 52 percent to 40 percent margin.
The survey reinforces what many Americans believe: Those candidates who support the sort of real, constitutional reform which will tame the federal leviathan, regulate our borders as the law requires, and oppose the recent step toward socialized medicine are having their message distorted. The candidates asking for smaller government, tough immigration enforcement and repealing Obamacare are running several points behind public support for those positions. The Tea Party, too, seems to be misunderstood by many voters. Lots of Americans, it seems, like Tea Party positions but not the media-created image of the Tea Party.
Which is hardly surprising, since constitutional conservatives have seen their image distorted by the mass media for decades.
Photo: California Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina campaigns at a roundtable of business women at a cafe in Los Altos, Calif: AP Images
