I was kind of amused at the way the liberal press was playing this, because the agenda was so blatant. I did a Google search a few days ago for the phrase "government shut down polls blame " It brought up a full page of Subject lines like "Americans Blame GOP" "Republicans Blamed For Shutdown" "Voters Blame GOP", etc, etc....
But in every single case, when I went to the article that was attached to these dire headlines, I discovered the exact same CBS/New York Times poll was the one being cited. In that poll, 44% blamed the GOP, 35% blamed the Dems, and 17% blamed both...
(The only headline I found that did not grossly misstate the actual poll results was for Fox newsman Bret Baier's website which had the headline, "Poll Shows Plurality Blame GOP....
Nice to see somebody was being fair and balanced....)
Then there was another poll that got a lot of play, showing that 70% of Americans disapproved of the way Congressional Republicans were handling the budget crisis...
The day that came out, that number got trumpeted all day long on MSNBC...
It wasn't until I looked the poll up that I discovered that the very same poll also found that 61% disapproved of the way the Democrats on the Hill were handling the crisis and 51% disapproved of Obama's role...
Not exactly ringing endorsements...
I have strongly felt that so long as the poll numbers basically reflected either a fairly closely divided public view about responsibility, or a "pox on both their houses" public mood, it was going to be very tough to break the impasse, because neither side was going to feel the political heat needed to get them to move...And that's the way it's been...
Until yesterday:
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013 ... s-gop?liteNBC/WSJ poll: Shutdown debate damages GOP
The Republican Party has been badly damaged in the ongoing government shutdown and debt limit standoff, with a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finding that a majority of Americans blame the GOP for the shutdown, and with the party’s popularity declining to its lowest level.
By a 22-point margin (53 percent to 31 percent), the public blames the Republican Party more for the shutdown than President Barack Obama – a wider margin of blame for the GOP than the party received during the poll during the last shutdown in 1995-96.
Just 24 percent of respondents have a favorable opinion about the GOP, and only 21 percent have a favorable view of the Tea Party, which are both at all-time lows in the history of poll.
And one year until next fall’s midterm elections, American voters prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress to a Republican-controlled one by eight percentage points (47 percent to 39 percent), up from the Democrats’ three-point advantage last month (46 percent to 43 percent).
What’s more, Obama’s political standing has remained relatively stable since the shutdown, with his approval rating ticking up two points since last month, and with the Democratic Party’s favorability rating declining just three points (from 42 percent to 39 percent).
“If it were not so bad for the country, the results could almost make a Democrat smile,” says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.
“These numbers lead to one inescapable conclusion: The Republicans are not tone deaf; they are stone deaf.”
A ‘boomerang’ effect for the GOP
Yet what is perhaps even more worrisome for the GOP is the “boomerang” effect: As the party has used the shutdown and fiscal fight to campaign against the nation’s health-care law and for limited government, the poll shows those efforts have backfired.
For one thing, the health-care law has become more popular since the shutdown began. Thirty-eight percent see the Affordable Care Act (or “Obamacare”) as a good idea, versus 43 percent who see it as a bad idea – up from 31 percent good idea, 44 percent bad idea last month.[This one really gets me...The roll out of Obamacare has been a complete fiasco, and if the Nuthousers hadn't sucked up all the media oxygen with this idiotic shutdown, that would have been the story dominating the news the past week, and support for Obamacare would probably be tanking...these morons are the best thing that ever happened to Obamacare...]
In addition, 50 percent say they oppose totally eliminating funding for the law, even if it that means a partial shutdown of the government. That’s up from 46 percent who said they opposed that move in a Sept. 2013 CNBC poll.
And by a 52-percent-to-44 percent difference, respondents believe the government should do more to solve problems. Back in June, the public was split, 48 percent to 48 percent, on whether the government should do more or less.
“That is an ideological boomerang,” says McInturff, the GOP pollster. “As the debate has been going on, if there is a break, there is a break against the Republican position.”
Obama’s approval rating ticks up to 47 percent
While the shutdown has wounded the Republican Party, Obama’s overall political standing remains stable in the poll.
Forty-seven percent of Americans approve of his job performance, which is actually up two points from last month (though that’s within the survey’s margin of error).
That’s compared with just 24 percent who approve of congressional Republicans, and 36 percent who approve of congressional Democrats.
Obama – with a 47 percent favorable, 41 percent unfavorable rating – also is the most popular political figure or institution in the poll, surpassing the Democratic Party (39 percent favorable/40 percent unfavorable); Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (14 percent favorable/28 percent unfavorable); Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (18 percent favorable/32 percent unfavorable); and House Speaker John Boehner (17 percent favorable/42 percent unfavorable).
At the bottom of the list are the Tea Party (21 percent favorable/47 percent unfavorable) and the Republican Party (24 percent favorable/53 percent unfavorable) – their lowest favorable numbers in the history of the poll.
And 46 percent of respondents say the president, during this budget standoff, has been a strong leader and is standing up for what he believes in, versus 51 percent who believe he’s putting his own political agenda ahead of what’s good for the country.
By comparison, a whopping 70 percent say congressional Republicans are putting politics first.
“Obama comes into the fight in as good of shape as he entered it,” says Hart, the Democratic pollster.
But there is one silver lining for Republicans: By a 43-percent-to-40 percent margin, the public disagrees with Obama’s position that he will not negotiate with the Republicans until they reopen government and raise the debt ceiling.
Economic confidence drops like a rock
Beyond the politics, the poll finds that the government shutdown and the debate over raising the debt ceiling have made Americans more pessimistic about the country’s direction and economy.
Just 14 percent believe the nation is headed in the right direction – a 16-point drop from last month. In fact, the last time it reached this level in the NBC/WSJ poll was during the 2008 financial crisis.
In addition, only 17 percent think the U.S. economy will improve in the next 12 months, which is down 10 points from September.
And 63 percent say the budget negotiations between Obama and congressional Republicans have made them less confident about the economy.
“All you can say is – what a waste,” Hart says about the government shutdown and fiscal standoff.
There is not a doubt in my mind that it these poll results that are what is really driving the sudden momentum for a deal...
