CBS Highlights Tea Party Rallies, But Also Plays Up Bad Poll Numbers
CBS's Jan Crawford spotlighted the Tea Party movement on Monday's Early Show, but also played up how it might present a "challenge" for potential Republican presidential candidates due its apparent unpopularity: "Recent polls show 47% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the movement. So candidates looking for Tea Party votes have to be careful not to alienate moderates."
Midway through her report, after noting the would-be GOP presidential candidates, such as Tim Pawlenty and Donald Trump, who showed up at some of the weekend rallies, the correspondent turned to possible downside that these politicians might face in appealing to the Tea Party, playing up a result from a recent CNN/Opinion Dynamics poll:
CRAWFORD: ...In playing to the Tea Party, the potential candidates also will have a challenge. Recent polls show 47% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the movement. So candidates looking for Tea Party votes have to be careful not to alienate moderates.
JEFF ZELENY, NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER: That's what the White House is sure hoping, that all of these Republican presidential candidates are out there and sort of waving the flag of the Tea Party, and they believe that that will turn off independent voters.
What Crawford didn't mention that President Obama himself has a vulnerability with independent voters, given how another recent poll from Gallup found that the Democrat has 35% rating with this group.
Earlier, the CBS political reporter did fairly present the movement's opposition to further federal spending and how organizers scheduled the recent protests to coincide with Tax Day: "Today is the Tea Party movement's biggest day. I mean, it's the day people are most frustrated with their government, when they're sitting down and writing those checks to the IRS and thinking, you know, why am I paying all this money? Today really highlights the Tea Party's message, that politicians here in Washington are just out of control."
The full transcript of Jan Crawford's report, which aired 4 minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour of Monday's Early Show:
CHRIS WRAGGE: Turning now to politics, members of the Tea Party movement will voice their frustration with the government on this Tax Day in rallies all across the country, this after a weekend of Tea Party gatherings featured a number of high-profile potential presidential candidates.
CBS News political correspondent Jan Crawford in Washington for us this morning with the latest- Jan, good morning.
JAN CRAWFORD: Good morning, Chris. Well, today is the Tea Party movement's biggest day. I mean, it's the day people are most frustrated with their government, when they're sitting down and writing those checks to the IRS and thinking, you know, why am I paying all this money? Today really highlights the Tea Party's message, that politicians here in Washington are just out of control.
CRAWFORD (voice-over): They're fed up with Washington, and sick of runaway spending. And at Tea Party rallies across the country this weekend, there were plenty of Republicans fighting for their support.
FORMER MINNESOTA GOVERNOR TIM PAWLENTY: Let's send them this message: don't tread on me.
FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN: Real solidarity means coming together for the common good. This tea party is real solidarity.
CRAWFORD: Some, like former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, are Tea Party favorites.
CONGRESSWOMAN MICHELE BACHMANN: They've been very excited, very encouraged about my potential candidacy, and I'm excited to be here with them.
CRAWFORD: And not to be left out, billionaire businessman Donald Trump made his first appearance at a Tea Party rally.
DONALD TRUMP: We have a man right now that almost certainly will go down as the worst president in the history of the United States.
CRAWFORD: No one knows if Trump is serious, but some early polls have him on top for the Republican nomination. He's gotten attention with his questions about whether President Obama was born in the United States, a widely discredited issue other Republican contenders have discarded.
(CBS News Graphic: "Tea Party Opinion: Unfavorable: 47%; Favorable: 32%; Source: CNN/Opinion Research; Margin of Error: +/- 3%")
But in playing to the Tea Party, the potential candidates also will have a challenge. Recent polls show 47% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the movement. So candidates looking for Tea Party votes have to be careful not to alienate moderates.
JEFF ZELENY, NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER: That's what the White House is sure hoping, that all of these Republican presidential candidates are out there and sort of waving the flag of the Tea Party, and they believe that that will turn off independent voters.
CRAWFORD (live): Now, this movement, of course, started just two years ago. So this will be the first presidential campaign these Tea Party voters can try to influence, and we, of course, don't know what kind of impact they will have in the fight over the Republican nomination. But some of these candidates are assuming that they're going to need these Tea Party votes to win. Chris?
WRAGGE: Well, Jan, let me ask you this, are all the prospective candidates out there fighting for these votes?
CRAWFORD: Well, that's a great question- I mean, not yet. We didn't see, for example, Mitt Romney, out at the big rallies this weekend, or another possible candidate, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. They're being a little more cautious. You know, they're trying to strike that balance, to reach out to those energized, conservative Tea Party voters, but then also appeal to some of the more moderate Republicans.
WRAGGE: CBS's Jan Crawford for us in Washington this morning- Jan, thanks.
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Comments
???
Submitted by MidAmerica on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 6:32pm.
I guess they missed seeing the 2010 elections results.
Do these People Have...
Submitted by GeneralAl on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 6:51pm.
Do these people even have a working Mind? Of course we get an unfavorable rating when you poll lefties five to one against us!
"Old Soldiers never die, they just fade away"!
Amen, and they skew the
Submitted by kinijane on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 7:10pm.
Amen, and they skew the numbers of all the rallies, 5000 folks turn into 50 and so forth, Rush has made a believer out of me, they trash what scares the crap out of them.
Don't forget the constant
Submitted by amyshulk on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 7:10pm.
Don't forget the constant demonizing by congresscritters and leftists on TV 24/7. Same thing they did to Sharron Angle, etc.
Ronald Reagan
Shocker!
Submitted by Bill Brasky on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 7:34pm.
"Recent polls show 47% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the movement." Actually that's not too bad considering 95% of the media coverage of the Tea Party is negative.
Truer words were never typed
Submitted by Blonde on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 7:36pm.
Nicely played.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Not to mention
Submitted by UpNorth on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 1:51am.
that when your polling is skewed to the dems POV, you get what you're looking for when you poll. As has been posted, it seems that some on the left, hell, most of the left is ignoring what transpired back in November.
Our local NBC channel had a story tonight on Benton Harbor, Mi. and the "outrage" that has transpired because the Emergency Financial Officer has taken over the city. This is the centerpoint of what Governor Snyder has pushed, responsible management of a local unit of government. Benton Harbor has a deficit of $1 million dollars. Local, and state government is prohibited from running deficits in their yearly business. Then, the money quote, from the administrator, Benton Harbor will have a surplus of $1 Millions dollars at the end of the current fiscal year.
The lesson? If your local leaders, freely elected by incompetent voters who don't know, or don't care who their leaders are, are incompetent, they'll be replaced by leaders who can get you out of a mess of your own creation. Of course, the local leaders immediately compared this to Stalinist Russia, or Nazi Germany. The same leaders who enriched their cronies, and mis-managed their cities, counties and townships into insolvency.
These measures are totally necessary, to protect the idiots from themselves.
Still more popular than Obama
Submitted by CobraMan on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 7:50pm.
It's interesting to note that the Tea Party's "unfavorable" numbers mach the "favorable" numbers for Obama. So, the generic Tea Party is actually polling 6 points above Obama.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
"What Crawford didn't mention
Submitted by dgv on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 8:01pm.
"What Crawford didn't mention that President Obama himself has a vulnerability with independent voters"
The story was about the tea party, not Obama. Unlike talk radio, every story is not summed up by showing how the president is failing.
If you need talk radio to figure out Obama is failing,
Submitted by lsudolemite on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 8:13pm.
then might I suggest pushing the rock out of the way so you can crawl out of the hole you're living in.
MSM is the cause of lower approval
Submitted by Boil It Down on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 8:13pm.
If the MSM were honest about the Tea Parties and not hell bent on misrepresenting them in a bad light at every opportunity, the approval ratings would be 15 -20 points higher. The shameless lies about radicals and racists in the movement prove the MSM unworthy of employment in journalism.
CBS also used bogus footage
Submitted by DMartyr on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 8:43pm.
to imply the anti-Tea Party crowd was much larger than it was. Check out the sign @00:18 in the video. This was supposedly at the April 15th Tea Party rally:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7362990n&tag=mncol;lst;1
Gateway Pundit has more:
http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2011/04/lib-media-goes-on-attack-p...
So 47% of "American's" have
Submitted by mostlymoderate on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 11:56pm.
So 47% of "American's" have unfavorable feelings toward the movement. So what? First, this poll was performed by the Communist News Network with "God-Only-Knows" what kind of formula. Do they call people during the day? If they do, these people are at home for some reason and I bet one reason is that they are unemployed "welfare-type" people.
Second, what type of person fully answers a poll? I know that most professionals, like doctors, lawyers, engineers, stock brokers, dentists, cowboys, farmers, etc etc are too busy to sit around answering "polls". Therefore, polls really mean nothing and are answered by your Oprah/Springer crowd.
Third, 47% is less than half and everybody knows the U.S.A. is more split-up now than ever and that means 53% must have a favorable view of the tea party. Nice!
48% Say Their Views Closer to
Submitted by TerryWest on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 1:08am.
48% Say Their Views Closer to Tea Party Than Congress
Tuesday, April 05, .rasmussenreports
I Binged tea party poll and up came every left wing effort all playing the same tune, it's as if they were all handed the same itinerary, shot down those messengers of fiscal responsibility!
This as we and the world watches our credit rating lowered and our historical debt climb.
I think this 48% number would
Submitted by NL207 on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 1:10am.
I think this 48% number would be even higher if the MSM were not systematically broadcasting Liberal propaganda misrepresenting the positions of the TEA Party.
The numbers are fun.
Submitted by Michael30 on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 6:19am.
So 47% have an unfavorable view of the T.E.A. Party (Taxed Enough Already.)
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And 47% are estimated to not pay federal taxes, and 40% recieve money.
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Not for nothing, but that is interesting.
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Makes me wonder if they will poll children on the issue of allowance allocation in relation to parental income.
-
Mike
Moderates??
Submitted by Utherpend on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 11:29am.
Tea Party voters dont support moderates or those that pander to them, so be sure and take the advice of the iltellectually challenged and you too can be a failed RINO.
Polls?
Submitted by Cowboy on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 10:13pm.
CNN Poll: Tea Party Opinion: Unfavorable: 47%
Rasmussen Poll: President Obama: Disapproval: 51%
Any poll that doesn't link
Submitted by bkeyser on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 10:27pm.
Any poll that doesn't link the demo should be immediately dismissed. And those that do need to be examined. Take the WaPo/ABC News poll released today showing only 47% approval for dumbo. This thing was skewed D/R/I 33/23/38. Ten points for the Dems and the best they could get was 47% for. Marist/McClatchy has another one with only 44% approval with a D/R/I of 35/27/36, an 8 point margin for Dems. Both are ludicrous in this climate and given the 2010 election. Hell, Obama only won in '08 by 7 points.
These are all media organizations attempting to sway public opinion - and failing miserably.
CNN partners...
Submitted by Cowboy on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 10:27pm.
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. April 9-10, 2011. N=824 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.5.
"In general, do you think the Tea Party movement has had a positive effect or a negative effect on the country so far?"
Positive 50%
Negative 43%
Mixed (vol.) 2%
No effect (vol.) 1%
Unsure 3%