Tea Party less popular than...gasp...atheists!

I reprint this from the NY Times in case their pay wall won't let you through the link. Emphasis mine.

Polls show that disapproval of the Tea Party is climbing. In April 2010, a New York Times/CBS News survey found that 18 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of it, 21 percent had a favorable opinion and 46 percent had not heard enough. Now, 14 months later, Tea Party supporters have slipped to 20 percent, while their opponents have more than doubled, to 40 percent.

Of course, politicians of all stripes are not faring well among the public these days. But in data we have recently collected, the Tea Party ranks lower than any of the 23 other groups we asked about — lower than both Republicans and Democrats. It is even less popular than much maligned groups like “atheists” and “Muslims.” Interestingly, one group that approaches it in unpopularity is the Christian Right.

So if atheists and Muslims begin to be just as loud and obnoxious as the Tea Party asses, do you think one of the two main partys will give them as much respect in the primaries?

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Why would a Republican win in Massachusetts?

Should Scott Brown (R) beat Martha Coakley (D) in today’s special Senate election in Massachusetts as FiveThirtyEight is leaning, it will not be due to a left to right electoral shift. While the right-wing pundits will surely portray it that way, if you ask me, it is far more complicated than that.

My thoughts of why a Republican would win this seat, without any substantial detail and in no particular order:

1) Lazy Democrats – Democrats have horrible turnout in special elections.

2) Short voter memory – one year is enough to say that Republican administration wasn’t so bad after all?

3) Impatient electorate – one year is enough to start blaming Obama/Democrats for our problems and lack of economic turnaround?

4) Disenfranchised Democrats – While these fools hold out hope for the liberal utopian health care plan, they actually believe that no health care bill is better than what is proposed, so they won’t show up at the polls. My sister, with a preexisting condition, who buys her own health care would argue with them on that. (Considering Coakley would likely vote for a public option, if given the chance, this is especially stupid postion to hold.)

5) Crappy candidate – sounds like Coakley was a lazy and poor performing candidate. She did win a primary, so not sure who is to blame for that one.

Well, if this sinks the health care plan, it won’t be the first time the death of a Kennedy created disastrous consequences for the nation.

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Interesting Poll Regarding Concelaed Carry

A recent Zogby Poll says that:

An overwhelming majority of Americans (83 percent) support concealed-carry laws, while only 11 percent oppose them. A majority of Independent voters (86 percent), Democrats (80 percent), young voters age 18-29 (83 percent), Hispanic voters (80 percent), and those who voted for President Obama (80 percent) support the right to carry a firearm.

I was fairly surprised. While I believe that most people are supportive of some type of lawful carry, I would have guessed that number be around 50-60%. I share Eugene Volokh's questions regarding the way the question was asked:

Currently, 39 states have laws that allow residents to carry firearms to protect themselves, only if they pass a background check and pay a fee to cover administrative costs. Most of those states also require applicants to have firearms safety training. Do you support or oppose this law?

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