Poll: 'Tea Party' label a negative

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Being labeled a Tea Party candidate is seen as a negative by a plurality of Americans, a Rasmussen Reports survey released Tuesday indicated.

Forty-three percent of likely U.S. voters told Rasmussen they considered "Tea Party" a negative candidate description, Rasmussen's latest survey indicated. It was considered positive by 29 percent while 23 percent put "Tea Party" somewhere in between.

Rasmussen Reports said 38 percent of survey participants consider it a positive when a political candidate is described as "conservative." Twenty-seven percent said they viewed "conservative" as a negative label while 30 percent rated it somewhere in the middle.

The "liberal" label remained in last place, with 21 percent of survey participants saying calling a candidate a liberal is positive, while 38 percent said it was negative. Thirty-four percent place it somewhere between the two.

The nationwide telephone survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted Thursday and Friday. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.