The Republican shutdown isn't gaining them any converts. Two thirds of the American voting population still think the government needs to be funded now and Obamacare dealt with separately. That's according to a new United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll.
The poll shows that 65 percent think "Congress should provide the funding to keep the government operating and deal with the health care issue separately." Just 24 percent think the House "is right to fund the continuing operations of the federal government only if Obama agrees to delay or withdraw his health care plan." [...]
Among independents, 66 percent think Congress should fund the government, and 23 percent think House Republicans are right.
The overall results are similar to a pre-shutdown United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll, which found 27 percent of respondents thought the government should only be funded if the health care law was delayed or stricken, and 63 percent thought Congress should approve the funding and deal with health care separately.
The public is just as opposed to any kind of deal making in the debt ceiling, whether it's a delay of Obamacare, cuts in discretionary spending, or any kind of grand bargain with Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. That suggests that the pivot that Republicans are trying to make—aware of the messaging disaster they've created for themselves with their Obamacare obsession—to
deficit hysteria, isn't going to win them any support with the public.
The nation rejects hostage-taking, except for the tiny sliver of the population that votes in deep-red primaries and gives money to FreedomWorks and Heritage Action. It's the same as it's been from the beginning of this crisis, except that the self-inflicted damage Republicans are doing is getting worse every day. There's a way out of that, though. Boehner just needs to grow a spine and let the vote happen.
Join Daily Kos and Democracy for America by telling House Republicans: Sign the discharge petition and end this shutdown now.