CBS 5 Poll: Nearly Half Of Californians Think Tea Party Is 'Bad For America'
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) -- Nearly half of all Californians think the Tea Party political movement is bad for the nation, according to a new KPIX-TV CBS 5 poll designed to gauge voter attitudes about the latest federal budget deal struck on Capitol Hill.
The Tea Party movement has played a key role in influencing some Republican lawmakers during the negotiations on raising the debt ceiling and the CBS 5 polling data shows many Californians take a negative view to the Tea Party's involvement.
Specifically, the poll found 49% of Californians felt the Tea Party movement was bad for America, compared to just 32% who viewed the Tea Party movement as good; 19% were unsure.
Ironically, the poll found even 8% of those who identified themselves as Tea Party members had a negative view of their movement. Not surprisingly, a majority California Republicans (53%) embraced the Tea Party as good, while an even larger percentage of the state's Democrats (70%) rejected the Tea Party as bad.
Californians also seemed soured on the entire budget drama as it has played out to date. The CBS 5 poll also found:
-- 57% believe the latest budget deal reached is a bad one.
-- 53% think everyone, Republicans and Democrats alike, lose with this current deal.
-- 74% think political leaders have done a bad job explaining the debt ceiling issue to the public.
-- Majorities disapprove of the way House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid handled budget negotiations, while opinions were split on President Oabama's actions.
The CBS 5 poll was conducted by the firm SurveyUSA, which interviewed 1,075 Californians on Aug. 1 about the budget situation. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
>> Download The Complete CBS 5 Poll Results (.pdf)
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