Opposition to tea party now at an all-time high

A Gallup poll released today has some bad news for the tea party — they have a long way to go to regain the glory of Nov. 2010.

Approximately four out of 10 Republicans and independents who lean Republican identify themselves as supporters of the tea party, which is a significant drop from Nov. 2010, when 61 percent of Republicans were on the tea party bandwagon.

From Gallup:

From the Associated Press:

With a Senate majority in reach, the Republican Party and its allies are using campaign cash, positions of influence and other levers of power to defuse what they consider challenges by weak conservative candidates before the 2014 midterm elections and the 2016 presidential race. The party is backing some tea party-styled candidates. And those lawmakers are accepting help from the very establishment the class vowed to upend.

It’s a sweeping effort by national and state Republicans to blur the dividing line between factions that many believe cost the GOP the Senate majority and prolonged the 2012 presidential nomination fight. This year, Republicans are within six seats of controlling the Senate.