Despite efforts by the Obama political team and its surrogates to link Rush Limbaugh to the Republican Party, just 11% of GOP voters say the conservative radio commentator is the party’s leader.

Eighty-one percent (81%) of Republican voters disagree and 8% are undecided in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Democrats, however, are closely divided-- 44% say Limbaugh is the Republican leader and 41% don’t believe it. Among voters not affiliated with either of the major national parties, 27% say Limbaugh is the Republicans’ leader, while 58% say he is not and 15% are undecided.

Rasmussen Reports is testing public reaction to a series of quotes made by newsmakers recently. For this topic, respondents were asked if they agreed or disagreed with the statement, “Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party. He says jump, and they say how high.”

That statement came from Brad Woodhouse, president of the liberal advocacy group Americans United for Change. His group is co-sponsoring national television ads with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees that link Limbaugh to the GOP. Woodhouse was not identified in the survey.

Overall, only 29% of the nation’s voters agree with Woodhouse’s statement. Fifty-nine percent (59%) disagree, and 13% are not sure. Results from other newsmaker quotes will be released in the coming days.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? Sign up now. If it's in the news, it's in our polls.) Rasmussen Reports updates also available on Twitter.

While Limbaugh is arguably the most high-profile conservative commentator in the country, even 76% of self-designated conservatives do not see him as the Republican leader. Fifty-two percent (52%) of moderates share that view, but the plurality of liberals (45%) do see Limbaugh as calling the shots for the GOP.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on CBS’ “Face The Nation” on Sunday dubbed Limbaugh "the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party." The next day, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs described the popular radio commentator as "a national spokesperson for conservative views and many in the Republican Party."

Even President Obama himself got in the act when in January he urged Republican leaders in a private meeting to quit listening to Limbaugh.

A Rasmussen Reports survey in 2007 found that most Americans had an unfavorable opinion of Limbaugh.

Early last month, 42% of voters said Obama is governing on a bipartisan basis while 39% say he is governing as a partisan Democrat.

In the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll, the President’s approval ratings have remained fairly stable. Wednesday’s update found that 42% of voters Strongly Approve of the way Obama is performing as president while 26% Strongly Disapprove.

Limbaugh clearly carries weight in Republican circles as evidenced by new GOP National Chairman Michael Steele’s quick public apology early this week after he characterized the commentator’s radio rhetoric as "incendiary" and "ugly." Steele made the original comments during a CNN interview.

In a survey at the end of January, 56% of all voters said the Republican Party should return to the views and values of Ronald Reagan to be successful, and 85% of Republican voters agreed.

Not surprisingly, Republicans and Democrats don’t agree on the future direction of the GOP. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats (64%) say the Republican Party has become too conservative, but only 17% of Republicans share that view.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free)… let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.

See survey questions and toplines. Crosstabs are available to Premium Members only.