Poll: Non-existent Third Party More Popular than Republicans and Democrats, Independents Outnumber Republicans, Democrats

The NBC/WSJ opinion poll released yesterday asked respondents to rate the favorability of the "Tea Party movement" alongside that of prominent political figures, major parties etc. Both the MSNBC and WSJ blogs were quick to point out, respectively, that "the conservative, libertarian-leaning Tea Party movement is more popular than either the Democratic or the Republican parties" and that "the Tea Party movement currently boasts higher favorability ratings than either the Democratic or Republican Parties." Eager to dismiss the findings, at the Washington Monthly, Steve Benen writes, quoting Media Matters:

About half the country has no idea what the "Tea Party movement" is. Only 7% said they know a great deal about the effort . . . comparing a "party" most of the country doesn't recognize with Democrats and Republicans doesn't make a lot of sense. For that matter, Eric Boehlert questioned the utility of polling a "party" that doesn't, you know, exist (it has no candidates, no platform, no organizational structure, no ballot line, etc.):

I'm not surprised because the Tea Party is a faceless movement that has doesn't actually stand for anything specific, so people can pretend it's whatever they want it to be. It's an utterly pointless polling exercise because people have an ingrained idea of who the Democrats are and what they stand for politically. Same with Republicans. But the non-existent Tea Party, for now, can be whatever voters want it to be.

Earlier this month, Richard Winger of Ballot Access News leveled the same criticism against a Rasmussen poll inquiring as to support for a generic "Tea Party candidate":

There is no such political party. One wishes Rasmussen Polls had done a poll that asks voters to choose among parties that actually exist. The results are: Democratic 36%, Tea Party 23%, Republican 18%, other or undecided 22%.

Despite the fact that it does not exist, the "Tea Party" has apparently become more popular over the last three weeks, outpacing first the Republicans and now the Democrats. Boehlert's analysis perhaps unwittingly underscores the significance of this contradiction: people have an "ingrained idea" of who and what the Democrats and Republicans are, while the Tea Party "can be whatever voters want it to be." Stated differently, people know exactly who and what the Democratic and Republican Parties are, they also know who and what they stand for, who and what they represent. And they likely reject Democrats and Republicans on the basis of this knowledge. Support for a non-existent "Tea Party" among a large plurality of the population is a negative indication of the fact that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are "what voters want."

The poll also found that self-described independents (including so-called "leaners") outnumber both Republicans and Democrats (including so-called "leaners"): 1) strict Independents, independents who lean Democrat, and those who lean Republican accounted for 42% of the response; 2) very strong Democrats, not very strong Democrats and Independents who lean Democrat accounted for 40%; and 3) very strong Republicans, not very strong Republicans and Independents who lean Republican totaled 34%.

Update: One more anti-incumbent tidbit from this poll: 38% of respondents stated that their congressional representative "deserves to be reelected", while 49% would prefer to "give a new person a chance."