A Gallup poll shows that more than a third of folks are sympathetic to teabagging demonstrations -- reflecting a hardening of anti-reform sentiment among Republicans and (likely) right-leaning "independents."
In other words, there's little sign that the teabag riots appeal beyond the core audience -- a problem.
Another problem: people, regardless of party, recoil at the spectacle of citizens voices being drowned out by others. Given that's been the teabagger m.o. -- and that bad behavior seems to be accelerating (dude with a gun arrested at Obama town hall) and it likely will get worse as time goes on-- one would suspect prolonged exposure to teabagging displays is only going to make people less sympathetic to their "message" of no death panels and just no in general.
Teabagger sympathizer Marc Ambinder, who appears to have been talking to some conservative strategists, makes that point:
When smaller, conservative groups Astroturfed, they inevitably brought to the meetings the type of Republican activist who was itching for a fight and who would use the format to vent frustrations at President Obama himself. There were plenty of activists who really wanted to know about health care, and some who were probably misinformed -- scared out of their chairs -- to some degree, but the loudest voices tended to be the craziest, the most extreme, the least sensible, and the most easy to mock.
The American people remain anxious and confused about health care reform. That is an underlying reality that Republican activists are so eager to exploit. But doing so required a certain restraint -- and a willingness to traffic in at least approximate truths -- and an ability to make distinctions within their own ranks about which tactics were valid and which tactics were venomous. It also required a sophistication about the media. The base condition here is an enthusiastic Republican base and a depressed Democratic base. A coherent, organized effort would have recognized that the moment the media began to take sides was the moment that the entire enterprise could be damaged. The media, being a collection of different megaphones, reported on the town hall meetings in one of two ways, both damaging to Republicans. Either they credulously reported the louder, angrier voices (inherently damaging to Republicans in this case) or they reported on the political architecture of the town hall meetings, which plays down the substance of the protests.
Remember, the target audience for Republicans is Blue Dog Democrats in Congress. They won't panic unless they perceive organic anxiety. The White House's goal was to prevent the Blue Dogs from panicking. The swing constituents in these congressional districts aren't angry Republicans, and the Blue Dogs know this. They're political independents for whom the sanctity of the process is important. These are the type of voters who like President Obama because he appears willing to bring people together even though they don't agree with their policies.
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