Poll: GOP Voters Want Third Party

The Hill reports:

A majority of Republicans said for the first time that a third party was needed in American politics, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.

Fifty-two percent of Republicans, and an even stronger number of Tea Party supporters, support the creation of a major, third political party, underscoring the occasional tensions between grassroots conservatives and the GOP establishment.

An overall majority of Americans, 52 percent, said that a third political party was needed; the most profound shift has come among Republicans.

The number of Republicans who said that a third political party was necessary was at an all-time high since Gallup first began tracking opinion on the issue in 2003. And while support for a third party has crept steadily upward in the GOP, for the first time, it represents a majority opinion.

Supporters of the Tea Party are even more likely to back a third party, the poll found. Sixty percent of Tea Party supporters back a third party, while 32 percent say the existing two parties are adequate. By contrast, 47 percent of Tea Party opponents said the bipartisan system is adequate, and 44 percent favored a third party.

The poll isn't the first time that the specter of a Tea Party-affiliated third party has emerged. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) strong>has asked "Why not?" of a third party< if voters find themselves dissatisfied with Republicans. And Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who had considered running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, strong>said he sees a third party< if Republicans stray from their principles.