CNN recently took a poll and published it on their website which repeats the same story I’ve been preaching this last year. If you want to win, do not run as an independent or a third party candidate. And to the activists, don’t vote for an independent or third party candidate. Here are the results of the CNN poll:

Washington (CNN) – Activists in the Tea Party movement tend to be male, rural, upscale, and overwhelmingly conservative, according to a new national poll.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday also indicates that Tea Party activists would vote overwhelmingly Republican in a two-party race for Congress. The party’s GOP leanings, the poll suggests, may pose a problem for the Tea Party movement if it tries to turn itself into a third party to compete with the two major parties in this year’s general election.

Full Poll Results [PDF]

“If the Tea Party runs its own candidates for U.S. House, virtually every vote the Tea Party candidate gets would be siphoned from the GOP candidate, potentially allowing the Democrats to win in districts that they might have otherwise lost,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “While the concept of an independent third party is extremely popular, most Americans, including most Tea Party supporters, don’t favor a third party that would result in a winner who disagrees with them on most major issues.”

According to the survey, roughly 11 percent of all Americans say they have actively supported the Tea Party movement, either by donating money, attending a rally, or taking some other active step to support the movement. Of this core group of Tea Party activists, 6 of 10 are male and half live in rural areas.

Nearly three quarters of Tea Party activists attended college, compared to 54 percent of all Americans, and more than three in four call themselves conservatives.

“Keep in mind that this is a pretty small sample of Tea Party activists,” notes Holland. “But even taking that into account, the demographic gaps that the poll finds between those activists and the general public on gender, education, income, ideology, and voting behavior appear to be significant differences.”

The poll indicates that about 24 percent of the public generally favors the Tea Party movement but has not taken any actions such as donating money or attending a rally. Adding in the 11 percent who say they are active, a total of 35 percent could be described as Tea Party supporters. That larger group is also predominantly male, higher-income, and conservative.

Some 45 percent of all Americans say they don’t know enough about the Tea Party to have a view of the movement; one in five say they oppose the Tea Party.

According to the survey, most Tea Party activists describe themselves as Independents.

But that’s slightly misleading, because 87 percent say they would vote for the GOP candidate in their congressional district if there were no third-party candidate endorsed by the Tea Party,” says Holland.

So what would happen if the Tea Party supported independent candidates for Congress?

The poll indicates that in a two-way race on the so-called “generic ballot” question, GOP candidates have a 47 percent to 45 percent edge. Throw a Tea Party candidate into the mix, and that two-point advantage becomes a 12-point deficit. That’s because virtually everyone who would vote for a Tea Party candidate in a three-way contest would choose a Republican in a two-way race. The Democratic candidate gets 45 percent in both scenarios, but the GOP candidate’s share of the vote drops from 47 percent in a two-way contest to just 33 percent with a Tea Party candidate on the ballot.

“Historically, that’s the problem many political movements have faced if they try to become a full-fledged party. They often wind up ensuring the victory of the candidate they dislike the most,” adds Holland.

Sixty-four percent of all Americans say they like the idea of a third party that would run against the Democrats and Republicans. But only 38 percent would support a third party if its presence on the ballot would mean that the winning candidate is one that disagrees with them on most major issues. According to the poll, Tea Party activists feel the same way: Only 4 in 10 favor a third party that would result in the election of candidates they don’t like.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted by telephone February 12-15, with 1,023 adult Americans, including 124 respondents who said they had taken active steps to support the Tea Party, such as donating money or attending a rally self. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points and plus or minus 9 percentage points for Tea Party activists only.

So now, in addition to my word, you have an official poll from a rather unlikely ally (I would have thought CNN would make some sort of attempt to suppress this information). We need to keep our eye on the ball. No matter how messy the GOP party is right now, we have to strongly encourage our candidates to run as fiscally responsible candidates within one of the two major parties–otherwise we don’t have a prayer, and I hope the country doesn’t totally self-destruct between now and 2012, because we won’t have another chance until then…

We are nearing the final lap of the race. To “Let Freedom Ring,” there is still much to accomplish. Many are wondering exactly what to do and how to do it to make sure we seat as many true conservative candidates as possible. iPoliticom is sponsoring a weeklong online activist/candidate training event. At the end of the event, participants will be given access to a video download  of  the conference, and a written plan of action to take to the streets, so we can win back our country.

The event will take place April 5th-10th, 2010 from 6-10pm.  Speakers will be broadcast live during their assigned time slot. You don’t to have to miss work, or spend a small fortune traveling to get training. For $15, you get 24 hours of live training plus a free download of the training. Oh, and if you are planning on going to the Washington Rally the following week, this will prep you with an action plan that you will want to share with others who might not have the chance to participate.

So far, we have Sheriff Mack, and Steven Crowder (from PJTV), and within the next week or two, we’ll have many more to announce. Tell us who you’d like to hear speak, and we will try get them as well.

Here’s a link to the press release that we sent out just today:

PRESS RELEASE

“Let Freedom Ring.” See you there!

An endorsement from Independence Caucus has a lot of value and means different things to different candidates. Upon receipt of their endorsement, Independence Caucus offers several services to their endorsed candidates. And while certainly not every candidate needs to feel obligated to take advantage of all of what IC has to offer, the menu of available services can give many candidates the leg up they need.

The endorsement itself means that a large group has just identified that candidate as someone who can be depended upon to act honorably in office and who will actually honor and defend the US Constitution. To receive that endorsement means that candidate is “one of us.”

Depending on their geographic area, a candidate can count on a bevy of additional volunteers to augment their staff. They have completed research on the incumbents about who’s getting money from who and what earmarks they are inserting into bills and who benefits, the incumbent’s voting record and who benefits from how they vote.

iPoliticom then steps in and will help a candidate with their fundraising efforts, training their volunteers in activating their precinct strategy, position training, administering and expediting candidates through the Independence Caucus vetting process, and helping the candidate’s campaign fully utilize the Web 2.0 tools to give their candidacy a ton of exposure on the internet.

Not every candidate is going to want or need to avail themselves of all of the services which can come from receiving an Independence Caucus endorsement. Some of our endorsed candidates have the machinery in place or know how to use Web 2.o, or are very effective at raising funds. Either way–those services are available to those who want them.