Republicans may have won the battle in passing the two-week spending extension (that contains $4 billion in cuts), and Senate Democrats might be struggling to draft their own legislation to keep the government funded for the rest of the year. But our new NBC/WSJ poll suggests that Republicans are caught between a rock and a hard place -- or, as our co-pollster Bill McInturff puts it, between a cliff and a charging tiger. “It may be hard to understand why a person might jump off a cliff, unless you understand they’re being chased by a tiger,” he said. “That tiger is the Tea Party.” McInturff’s explanation: The Americans who are most concerned about spending cuts are core Republicans and conservatives, not independents or swing voters.

Consider: 33% of Tea Party supporters, 34% of Republicans, and 35% of McCain voters list deficit/spending as the top issue the federal government should address, compared with 23% of independents, 24% of suburban women, 19% of seniors, and 19% of those ages 18 to 34 who say that. By contrast, 35% of seniors, 39% of 18- to 34-year-olds, 40% of independents, and 41% of suburban women believe job creation/economic growth is nation's top issue. And two-thirds of independents, seniors, 18- to 34-year-olds and suburban women say they are concerned that major cuts to government spending could impact them and their families, versus roughly half of Republicans, McCain voters, and Tea Party supporters who think that.

The NBC/WSJ poll also lists 26 different ways to reduce the federal budget deficit. The most popular: placing a surtax on federal income taxes for those who make more than $1 million per year (81% said that was acceptable), eliminating spending on earmarks (78%), eliminating funding for weapons systems the Defense Department says aren’t necessary (76%) and eliminating tax credits for the oil and gas industries (74%). The least popular: cutting funding for Medicaid (32% said that was acceptable), cutting funding for Medicare (23%), cutting funding for K-12 education (22%), and cutting funding for Social Security (22%). Those numbers, McInturff says, “serve as a huge flashing yellow sign to Republicans … if they are going to start to talk about changes to Medicare and Social Security" in April of this year, as House Republicans have promised.

Doesn't that look like something I'd write?

The Tea Party is so out of touch with main stream Americans one has to wonder.