A pair of new releases by Republican and Democratic polling firms underscored the same trend: the government shutdown has hurt the GOP dearly.
The latest survey from Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research released Friday found that voters nationwide blame the shutdown on Republicans in Congress rather than President Obama and the Democrats by a 16-point margin, 43 percent to 27 percent.
Moreover, the poll found Democrats in a promising position entering next year’s midterm elections. Forty-six percent said they would vote for the Democratic congressional candidate if the 2014 midterms were held today, while 36 percent said they would prefer the GOP candidate.
A memo released Thursday by GOP firm Resurgent Republic acknowledged that the shutdown is “more toxic to voters” than the Affordable Care Act, noting that the “plan of using a government shutdown to spark a national discussion on Obamacare fell flat.”
The pollster contended that if “Republicans can put the shutdown dysfunction in their rear view mirror, they can move to a more favorable playing field.”
These relases coincide with an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday that painted a very bleak political landscape for the GOP.
