Washington is also skeptical of how tea party candidates will perform once they get to Congress: 79 percent of D.C. elites do not believe tea party candidates will have enough influence to change Washington.

In any case, neither group has high expectations. Just 16 percent of the general population, and 10 percent of D.C. elites, believe tea party candidates will change Washington…

President Obama—and his re-election chances—were other areas where the two groups had contrasting responses.

In the general public’s view, the president is in big trouble, with 50 percent predicting that Obama will not be reelected and just 26 percent believing he will win a second term. D.C. elites saw things very differently: 49 percent believe the president will win a second term in 2012 while just 23 percent think he won’t be reelected.