Stephanopoulos Cites Tea Party ‘Losing Steam,’ But Skips Obama’s Plummeting Numbers

On Tuesday’s World News, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos touted how “we've got a new poll out tonight that shows the Tea Party may be losing steam nationwide” as its unfavorable rating has “gone up eleven points in the last couple of months to 50 percent. Their favorable rating has gone down.”

Stephanopoulos and ABC, however, didn’t find time, in multiple stories on the oil leak, to inform viewers how the same ABC News/Washington Post survey, released Tuesday morning, found that by 49 to 44 percent the public disapproves of President Obama's handling of the disaster. In addition, “the number of Americans who think the President ‘understands the problems of people like you,’ at 51 percent, is down from 56 percent in a Washington Post poll in late March; and at 57 percent his rating as a strong leader is down from 65 percent in March.” (PDF of poll results)

Stephanopoulos raised the Tea Party’s standing in a preview of Tuesday’s primary elections. Anchor Diane Sawyer wondered: “And what does this mean, the outsider momentum for the Tea Party? Does it roll straight to November?” Stephanopoulos answered:

Not entirely clear. We've got a new poll out tonight that shows the Tea Party may be losing steam nationwide. Look at the unfavorable rating. It's gone up eleven points in the last couple of months to 50 percent [from 39]. Their favorable rating has gone down [41 to 36]. So the Tea Party still has enough juice to win these primaries, but they may be putting their party in a position of making it harder to win those seats in November.