Tea Party Activists Rattle Off Figures In Conference Call

Fox News' Frank Luntz very sure of support among Tea Party, unaligned voters surveyed

FreedomWorks CEO Matt Kibbe told a nationwide hook-up of conference callers that the ideas expressed by voters in landslide midterm elections will be on lawmakers' agendas in the 112th Congress.

He said it's time to “take these ideas and develop them in specific legislation.”

The people participating in the conference call are expected to serve as watch dogs in the coming Congress to monitor the true behavior of the lawmakers who made these promises to get the endorsement of their Tea Party supporters.

Long-term pollster and Fox News commentator Frank Luntz took over and supplied the figures that prove both Tea Party activists and non-affiliated voters approve of the group's Contract From America, a set of 10 ideas endorsed by 67 new members of Congress eased into their seats with Tea Party support throughout 50 states. The new majority in the House of Representatives will cause a change in leadership, committee chairmanships and the ability to deny passage of controversial legislation proposed by liberal Democrats and the White House.

Though Senators will be able to deny the cloture required to bring laws to the floor for a vote, they still do not have a clear majority. The new numbers guarantee either increased compromise with the White House and the left wing or gridlock, something other Presidents such as Bill Clinton have used to campaign for and win re-election during stressful times.

Of those surveyed, 56% “watch or collect national or international news 7 days a week,” he said. It is something that is “frightening to the left – that your are informed.”

Some 26% indicated they have attended rallies or demonstrations during the past two years leading up to the mid-term elections.

He assured his listeners that the Obama grass roots groundswell for a change in American government is big, but “yours is bigger.”

Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed consider themselves more involved in the political process as a result, Mr. Luntz told his listeners.

Only a small percentage agreed with a quote from “the former Speaker of the House” Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), whose influence was targeted by Tea Party grass roots activists in the sweeping elections.

She has described the Tea Party as a “fabricated Astro-Turf movement that is just a front for right-wing special interest groups.”

The top issue identified by polls conducted by Mr. Luntz is to repeal and replace the Health Care Reform Act of 2010 by defunding its programs and nullifying its laws and regulations, he said. More than 80% of Tea Party activists surveyed so indicated this as their chief concern and 60% of American voters agreed with them.

Mr. Luntz urged listeners to begin to discontinue the use of the term “government control” of health care issues under the provisions of the new law, which has yet to take effect. “It's a government takeover,” he said. “It's not government control you're fighting; it's a government takeover.”


A provision that would require lawmakers to identify the constitutional authority for proposed legislation in the preamble of the bill received identical support.

The second most important issue identified is to check Cap And Trade legislation that would limit the amount of carbon emissions industrial plants and cities are allowed to release into the atmosphere, something his organization insists is a job killer and ineffective in controlling the greenhouse effect of such gases which allegedly drive world temperatures higher.

Ninety percent of Tea Party activists agree with a proposed Constitutional Amendment that would require Congress first balance the federal budget before it is allowed to raise taxes in any way while 61% of voters surveyed agreed with the question.

A similar percentage of Tea Party supporters and American voters surveyed said they wish to see an end to “pork barrel” provisions attached by lawmakers as riders to amendments to other bills and designed to fund certain pet projects of special interest groups in a single district or state.

To place an annual cap on spending is favored by 88% of Tea Party activists while 66% of voters also approve of the idea.