Things have not been good Republicans since Uncle Sam shutdown on October 1st, but the polls have been going from bad to worse.
First it started off with Gallup finding the Republican party had the lowest likeability numbers of any political party in the entire 20 year history of their polling. Today, NBC/WSJ released their poll sinking the GOP numbers down to 24%. The news gets worse for the "Grand Ole Party" with 53% blaming them for the shutdown, 70% saying that they are putting party ahead of country. The numbers improved for President Obama whose approval ticked up to 47%. Democrats overall have seen their numbers rise taking a 47-39 point lead on a generic ballot.
The GOP (or more appropriately Ted Cruz) master plan and reason for causing this shutdown and possible default is Obamacare. Recent Rasmussen surveys have shown the law gaining traction at 45-49. The NBC/WSJ poll also found a significant bump in its support since last month. And 39-50 say it's a bad idea to shutdown the government over the Affordable Care Act.
Someone who you may not completely agree with, but like positively will be more likely to earn your vote. This is something I put a extreme emphasis on during the 2012 Election. The NBC/WSJ poll showed the only person currently with positive likeability in Washington is President Obama (47-41). The Democrats are disliked by 1 (39-40). The Republican Party currently not favorable 24-53. Approval is also not good for Congressional Republicans (24-70) versus Democrats (36-59).
The NBC/WSJ shutdown poll asked about government helping solve problems, 52-44 say Uncle Sam should help more. In a 1995 poll with the same question, 32-62 said government should be less involved. Also comparing blame between now and 1995, 53-31 blame GOP-Obama, while 1995 average was 45-30. 46% say this shutdown is "Extremely Serious" while 29% said that last time.
There are some clear takeaways from the new polling data over the past week. First, President Obama approval is rising. Second, support for the healthcare law is inching up. Third, people do not approve of the GOP nor their tactics. And fourth, Americans are supporting the Democrats more and more in generic election questions. None of this is good for the GOP now or in 2014. It is rare, almost impossible, for the Presidents party to do good in mid-term years, but it has and can be done. It's still 13 months until Election Day though.