There is no doubt that the teabaggers hurt the Republican Party in the 2012 election. They did that by controlling the GOP primary in many states and nominating some candidates whose extremism turned off voters. This caused the Republicans to lose some races they were originally favored to win. The operative question now is whether that will happen again in 2014?Establishment Republicans are making a serious effort to head off any teabagger opponents this year. While they may not say it publicly, they know they must have candidates that can appeal to moderate Independent voters or 2014 will turn out to be a big disappointment for them. But what do their base voters think. Do they think the teabaggers are poison to GOP hopes, or do they see them as heroes who will help the GOP in this election?
The Rasmussen Poll tried to find out. Their survey was done of 1,000 likely Republican voters on February 16th and 17th, and has a margin of error of about 3 points. And those results were not clear at all. In fact, if it does anything, it points out the division in the party -- with 38% saying the teabaggers would help the party and 32% saying they would hurt the party. Another 20% were unable to make up their minds, and only 10% said the teabaggers would have no impact at all on the election.
The current Republican Party is a party in search of redemption. Their numbers are the worst in a Congress with poor numbers. Can they become moderate enough to appeal to the mass of voters, or will they continue to let the teabaggers lead them down the path to electoral insignificance?
The next few months will answer that question, but I believe they aren't ready yet to take back their party from the teabaggers. Many party leaders may be ready for that, but the party's base is not. Too many in that base are under the delusion that they just weren't conservative enough in the last election -- and still haven't grasped the fact that most Americans see them as too extreme.
