Associated Press-GfK Poll Results

Serious polling shows that about three people of every ten call themselves Tea Party backers. That is to say, about seven of every ten do not. About two of those three are Republican.

In our recent election, four of every ten voters said they supported the Tea Party. So Tea Party people turned out better than non-Tea Party voters. Of the votes Republicans received in the recent election, two out of every three votes came from Tea Party supporters.

Eighty-six percent of Tea Party voters said they wanted less government intrusion on people and business. Only thirty-five percent of other voters said that. Five times as many Tea Party supporters as other voters blamed Obama for our country's problems.

Tea Party backers say our most important problems are taxes and a budget deficit. They are less interested in education and the environment. The seven in ten voters who do not call themselves Tea Party supporters have a far less negative view of both Obama and our country.

Tea Partiers are likely to be white, male, older, and more affluent than the other seventy percent. Older, affluent, white males tend to be conservative.

Seventy-four percent of Tea Party people think a divided government is a good thing. Only 36 percent of other conservatives think it is a good situation.

Two out of every three Republican votes came from Tea Party supporters. How would you like to be the other Republican? You would not be looking at an average American crowd.

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