Colorado Polling Highlights Potential Tea Party Problem For GOP

Public Policy Polling has discovered some interesting trends regarding the Tea Party and the 2012 election in its latest Colorado survey.

In polling conducted February 4-6 (PDF), the research firm found that, in a hypothetical general election between President Obama and a generic "moderate" Republican, Obama would win by 6 points if the election were held today. However, against a "conservative Tea Party Candidate," Obama wins by 12 points.

Exacerbating that concern for Republicans is the finding that "66% [of Republicans] say they'd like the party to nominate a conservative candidate next year, while only 25% express a preference for a moderate."

As PPP's Tom Jensen notes, this would put the Colorado GOP at odds with a large majority of national Republicans, who--in a recent CNN Poll (PDF)--expressed preference for a nominee "who can beat Barack Obama" over "a nominee over agrees with you on every issue."

PPP's Colorado polling also found that voters found Obama to be "more within the ideological mainstream than the Republican Party."

The Colorado poll had a +/-4.3% margin for error.