Tea Party polls *worse* in U.S. than bin Laden in MidEast: just 58% think teapartiers aren't terrorists

Consider this shocking result of a recent Rasmussen Reports poll (link):

Yes No Undecided
Poll question: "Some people have accused the Tea Party of acting like economic terrorists during the budget debates. Are members of the Tea Party economic terrorists?" 29% 55% 16%

That alone should be a PR disaster. I doubt if too many groups in the U.S. have ever had such negatives. Imagine just 55% of Americans thinking that, say, AAA or AARP might not be economic terrorists.

To put that into perspective, compare the results above to a 2011 Pew poll that asked Muslims in Muslim countries if they had confidence in Osama bin Laden (taken while he was alive, link):

Palestinian territories 34%
Indonesia 26%
Egypt 22%
Jordan 13%
Turkey 3%
Lebanon 1%

Yes, that's right: a greater percentage in the U.S. think the Teapartiers are economic terrorists than the percentage of those in Indonesia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, or Lebanon who supported Osama bin Laden.

See tea parties for our extensive coverage of their movement including past polls. And, the next time Teaparty enablers try to present them as representing mainstream American opinion, direct them to this post.