When Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff was asked about the tea party during a national telephone conference call on immigration Tuesday, he didn’t mince words.

“I have supported the original concept of the tea party — smaller government and so forth,” Shurtleff said. “The fact it has morphed into an anti-law enforcement and anti-immigrant movement is one of concern to me.”

His view mirrors in some ways the image-tarnishing the tea party is experiencing in Utah, according to Salt Lake Tribune polling.

Support for the tea party has dropped from 46 percent in October to 42 percent in the new poll, conducted Aug. 8-10, while opposition has risen from 41 percent to 52 percent during that same period. That marks the first time in three polls taken for The Tribune dating back to April 2010 that showed a majority of Utah registered voters opposing the tea party movement.

But while support for the tea party shows signs of slow erosion within Utah, the movement is faring far better within the state than it is nationally.

A New York Times/CBS poll taken this month showed only 20 percent of American adults supported the tea party, while 40 percent opposed it. That’s the highest level of opposition nationally for the tea party in polling data from The Times/CBS since they started asking the question in April 2010.

Evidence of support for the tea party was visible in Utah two weeks ago in American Fork, where Rep. Jason Chaffetz — a tea party favorite — was weighing a decision to run against Sen. Orrin Hatch as a Republican challenger.

When it came time to ask Chaffetz questions, Jake Anderegg of Lehi laid out the tea party frustration with establishment Republicans and was cheered by about 150 who were in attendance.

“Obviously I think inside our state we have a fairly good group of people that are headed in the right direction ... but we need help,” he said. “What can we do to get more of the old school out and more of the new thought and new process of where we have to head?”

Many tea party backers were shocked when Chaffetz announced Monday he wasn’t going to seek the Senate seat.

David Kirkham, a tea party leader in Utah, was among those who expressed surprise. However, he didn’t believe the fortunes of the tea party rode on Chaffetz challenging Hatch. He said the movement is bigger than that.

He also said The Tribune poll numbers related to the tea party were encouraging.

“I would say this — wow — 40 percent of the people are onboard, really? Isn’t that wonderful?” Kirkham said. “To me, it’s a great thing that, wow, there are 40 percent onboard. And 55 percent of Republicans? We still have a huge majority out there.”

But fractures in the Republican Party — both nationally and within Utah — have been more visible of late.

Shurtleff, on his Tuesday national conference call, complained the tea party was “turning people to the irrational and the shrill.” He said he called them anti-law enforcement because they didn’t support Friday’s decision by the Obama administration to prioritize deportations of undocumented immigrants by focusing on those with serious criminal charges.

And on Saturday, a resolution is going forward to the GOP State Central Committee to stop Utah Republican Party Vice Chairman Lowell Nelson and Secretary Drew Chamberlain from speaking on behalf of the party. Both are identified with the tea party and said on a radio program that they supported ending public education, Medicaid and Social Security.