Public's Distaste Of Teabaggers Is Growing

I have posted recently about how the teabagger "movement" seems to be losing some of its steam since the last election. A convention of teabaggers that was supposed to draw thousands (that many would have been needed to fill the hall that was rented) in Florida wound up with only about 300 participants -- about 12 participants for each scheduled speaker. And the "giant" teabagger tax day rally in Washington (D.C.) was an even bigger flop -- with the news media outnumbering the demonstrators.

But while the movement is losing steam, it also looks like the public is turning against the teabaggers. These radical (and racist) right-wingers have never been supported by a majority of Americans, but in the beginning there were a lot of Americans who simply didn't care one way or the other about the teabaggers. That is changing. Since the Republican's took over the House of Representatives with a lot of new teabagger politicians, the public has been faced with just how extreme the beliefs of these people really are.

These new teabagger Republican representatives have fueled an attack on the government by opposing the EPA's attempts to improve the environment, slashing funds for education, opposing a woman's right to choose, trying to abolish Medicare and Medicaid, proposing benefit cuts for Social Security, proposing cuts to unemployment and other social programs that help unemployed and poor Americans, protecting job outsourcing -- and doing all of this while protecting huge subsidies for corporations and proposing new tax cuts for those corporations and the rich.

Americans wanted some changes made (cut the deficit, create jobs, stop outsourcing) but they weren't ready for the mean-spirited fringe right-wing agenda of the teabagger politicians. Now these politicians are experiencing a backlash among voters (as many of them are experiencing in town hall meetings). And it looks like the entire teabagger "movement" is also starting to experience some backlash from the public.

A recent Gallup Poll shows that nearly half of the American people say they have an unfavorable image of the teabaggers. The poll shows that 47% of the population now views the teabaggers negatively -- a 5% rise since January 2011 and a 7% rise since April of last year. At the same time, those who view them positively has dropped by 6% since January 2011. Here are the poll results showing the number of people viewing teabaggers negatively (with a demographic breakdown):

General Public
positive...............33%
negative...............47%

Men 18 to 49
positive...............34%
negative...............42%

Men 50+
positive...............49%
negative...............40%

Women 18 to 49
positive...............27%
negative...............47%

Women 50+
positive...............26%
negative...............57%

East
positive...............27%
negative...............49%

Midwest
positive...............34%
negative...............48%

West
positive...............25%
negative...............52%

South
positive...............42%
negative...............41%

Republican
positive...............60%
negative...............24%

Independent
positive...............30%
negative...............43%

Democrat
positive...............10%
negative...............73%