Third party's don't work, folks

From Geraghty the Indispensable over at NRO's The Campaign Spot, he has a story about a new Quinnipiac poll about the Tea Partys:

Only 13 percent of American voters say they are part of the Tea Party movement, a group that has more women than men; is mainly white and Republican and voted for John McCain, and strongly supports Sarah Palin, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.

While voters say 44 – 39 percent that they will vote for a Republican over a Democratic candidate in this November’s Congressional elections, if there is a Tea Party candidate on the ballot, the Democrat would get 36 percent to the Republican’s 25 percent, with 15 percent for the Tea Party candidate, the independent Quinnipiac University poll finds.

By a 28 – 23 percent margin, American voters have a favorable opinion of the Tea Party, with 49 percent who say they don’t know enough about the group to form an opinion.

American voter opinion of the Democratic Party is 48 – 33 unfavorable, with opinion of the Republican Party 42 – 33 percent unfavorable.

I'll post up some other little nuggets in a second from the latest Quinninpiac poll, but I feel a need to address this issue. Since last summer the Tea Party movement has done a phenomenal job in serving notice to members of Congress as to just how irate the public is with them right now. They have protested outside of Congress (this past weekend, included), they have confronted members of Congress during last year's August recess when congressional members headed home, and they are members of a growing movement that continues to gather supporters and sympathizers each day.

But the idea of them being a third party, and people supporting that third party, is a dangerous idea. As the last paragraph shows, the Tea Party candidate is likely drawing away from a Republican candidate. How can I say that? By the breakdown that Quinninpiac discovered in the poll. (This is where the "little nuggets" come into play):

Looking at voters who consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement:

-- 74 percent are Republicans or independent voters leaning Republican;
-- 16 percent are Democrats or independent voters leaning Democratic;
-- 5 percent are solidly independent;
-- 45 percent are men;
-- 55 percent are women;
-- 88 percent are white;
-- 77 percent voted for Sen. John McCain in 2008;
-- 15 percent voted for President Barack Obama.

A total of 19 percent of American voters trust government to do the right thing "almost all of the time" or "most of the time," compared to only 4 percent of Tea Party members.

The last nugget about trusting the government is no surprise, neither is it a surprise to see that the majority of those who identify themselves as a member/supporter of the Tea Party movement are Republicans or Independents. That makes sense. But if there is a Tea Party candidate that is running, Tea Party people will more than likely support their candidate rather than a Republican. (As the numbers above show, less than 20% of the members are Democrat; just 15% of them voted for Barry.) So they would pull from the Republican on the ballot as opposed to the Democrat.

Folks, third parties don't fly well in America. They have never won by significant margins (Joe Lieberman's 2006 run aside), and in the end they take away from Republicans. I know the arguments that Independents and third-party candidates might do the nation better than the current group of yahoos we have in congress now, but until they can sway public opinion to support such candidates they'll never win. (And yes, I'm aware that in State races such people can win, a la Jesse Ventura in Minnesota for governor, but they can't win national/federal elections.)

I know there's frustration in the nation at how Democrats and Republicans are operating in DC, but the answer isn't in jumping off the cliff for a third-party candidate.

If we want America back on track come this November, we need to turn away from such spontaneous and rash decisions to support people that have no chance of winning. If we want sound and sensible, mature and adult decision makers in DC we need to toss out the Democrats and vote in Republicans. Go to the NRCC's donation page, and make a contribution today to ensure the Democrats in the House brush up on their resumes as they hit the unemployment line when the midterms are over. And for the Senate you can contribute to those efforts here.

The Democrats have shown America three important things since 2006:

1) They don't want to listen to the people, nor do they listen.

2) They are moving forward on an agenda that is the antithesis of the founding principles of America.

3) They can' be trusted on foreign, domestic, or national security issues.

Republicans have been doing their best to regain the trust of the electorate. Do we believe they've learned their lesson? We hope so. We know damn well that not all of our headaches will evaporate with the Republicans in control of one or both Houses of Congress. However they'll do a helluva lot better than the Democrats will do; a Democrat party in complete control of Congress that has spent us into trillions of dollars of debt that future generations will still be trying to pay off.

Republicans are pledging to mind their manners, and not do what they did that caused them to get tossed from office, and power, to begin with. They have stood firm, for the most part, against this radical agenda the president and his sycophantic cronies in Congress have been ramming down the nation's throat. We're not going to waste out vote this fall on a pipe dream. We're going to support the GOP because they have a better chance of winning, and a better plan for America.

That plan doesn't include helping Barry and Company. Voting for a third party will do just that because it'll take away from the Republican in the race, and virtually guarantee a Democrat win. We don't need more Democrats in charge. In fact, we don't want them in charge anymore. We've seen what they want to do, and for the sake of the nation they can't be trusted with this power any longer. If they continue to hold this power they will remake this nation into an image they prefer, and undermine why America was founded to begin with.

Publius II