For the second time in a week, it appears Republicans have the most to lose politically from a government shutdown.
A PPP poll of registered voters released this week showed that most Americans think a government shutdown would be bad for the country. And if a shutdown does occur, the poll also found that a majority of Americans would blame Republicans for the mess, not President Obama.
Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they believed a government shutdown would be bad for the country. At the same time, 53% said they would put more blame on congressional Republicans than on Obama for a shutdown, while just 22% said the reverse.
That finding backs up an ABC News/Washington Post poll released earlier this week, in which 45% of adults said they would blame Republicans for a shutdown, compared to 30% who said they’d blame Obama.
This week, Congress passed a second continuing resolution to fund the government for another three weeks as they try to hammer out a long-term spending bill. But a number of House Republicans defected on that vote, arguing for deeper spending cuts.
Those defections hinted at what could be a problem for Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH). To pass a long-term bill, he’d likely need to make concessions with Democrats, losing members of his own party and alienating tea partiers. But if he refuses to budge, and the House passes a bill that has no chance of passing the Democratic controlled Senate, the government would be at an impasse.
Boehner has said he wants to avert a government shutdown.
The PPP poll was conducted March 10-13 among 1,003 registered voters nationwide. It has a margin of error of 3.1%.
