The survey revealed that Republicans are split down the middle on supporting their party
One day after Republicans
declared a rally of 200 tea partiers represented a game-changing moment in the government shutdown, we're seeing another round of brutal numbers for the GOP from the newest
ABC/Washington Post poll:
Barely one in five Americans (21 percent) approve of the way Republicans in Congress are handling negotiations over the budget, while nearly three quarters disapprove (74 percent). Disapproval is up from 63 percent since the start of the shutdown, after reaching 70 percent last week. Disapproval of congressional Democrats has also risen by a smaller amount — 56 to 61 percent — as the shutdown has continued, owing in large part to greater approval among fellow Democrats.
While everybody is below water, these numbers show that Republicans are taking the worst of it. Not only are their raw numbers by far the worst of the bunch, their rate of decline is faster than congressional Democrats or the president.
According to the survey, the GOP's net approval rating on handling the shutdown is -53, down from -37 two weeks ago. For Democrats, it's -28, down from -22 two weeks ago. And for President Obama it's -11, down from -9 two weeks ago. That means Republicans have dropped 16 points in the past two weeks, compared with six points for Democrats and two points for Obama. Moreover, 54 percent strongly disapproved of the GOP's handling of the shutdown.
The poll also showed that Democrats are largely unified in support of President Obama and congressional Democrats, Republicans are sharply divided, with just 49 percent approving their party's handling of the shutdown and 47 percent disapproving of it.
The poll was conducted October 9-13 and had a margin of error of ±3.5 percent.