Two weeks ago week I scolded Rasmussen for producing another dumb poll that (surprise!) cheered conservatives. Last week's poll concluded:

[T]hat 52% of U.S. voters believe the average member of the Tea Party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress.

And yes, conservatives did cartwheels because they claimed the poll proved that Americans were embracing the Tea Party movement. The problem with the poll? No context. i.e. Everyone knows that Congress is suffering from historically low approval ratings right now.

As I wrote [emphasis added]:

In other words, who isn't viewed that way today, and why didn't Rasmussen poll about other groups to provide context? Why didn't Rasmussen also ask if the "average member of a labor union has better understanding of the issues facing America today than" members of Congress"? Or the “average school teacher”? Or the “average Democratic voter”?

Well, Rasmussen has done just that, asking voters specifically to compare and contrast their “views” with the “average member of a labor union,” the “average Member of Congress,” and the “average tea party member.”

The results? As I suspected, many more voters said that union members more closely share their views than do members of Congress. Same with school teachers.

Also telling?

3* When you think about the major issues facing the country, whose views are closest to your own the average public school teacher or the average tea party member?

47% The average school teacher

41% The average tea party member

Bottom line: If you want to believe the Rasmussen results, pretty much everybody scores higher than members of Congress in terms of which group shares the views of most Americans. And yes, school teachers edged out tea party members in a direction comparison. (FYI, Tea Party members bested union members in the Rasmussen poll.)