Yet more bad news for a Republican Party: a new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows a new high disapproval rating for how the Tea Party dominated party has handled the government shut down, now coupled with the real prospect that Tea Partiers could cause the U.S. to default — a development that all but ideologists who don’t live in reality say will mean economic catastrophe to the United States and world markets. It’s one in a series of polls showing the Republicans as the ones getting most of the blame, and facing further image/branding damage:
Republicans continue to absorb the bulk of the blame for the protracted budget impasse, with a poll released Monday showing public disapproval of the GOP’s handling of the crisis reaching an apex.
The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll found 74 percent of Americans disapproving of how congressional Republicans are handling the budget negotiations, up from 63 percent two weeks ago. Fifty-four percent said they “strongly” disapprove of the Republicans while 20 percent said they “somewhat” disapprove. Only 21 percent said they approve of the way Republicans have handled the talks.
The poll found Republicans receiving far more blame than the other parties in the negotiations. Fifty-three percent said they disapprove of how President Barack Obama has handled the negotiations while 61 percent said they disapprove of Democrats in Congress.
No polls have shows an upward movement for the GOP in recent weeks — and almost all polls show the GOP losing support across the board, including from Republicans. The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza points out about this poll:
Even among Republicans who approve of their leaders, intensity is lacking. Just 27 percent of Republicans “strongly approve” of Republicans in Congress’ handling of budget negotiations. That compares with 48 percent strong approval of Obama among Democrats.
An ideological split within the GOP accounts for the soft ratings for Republicans among their own party members. Some 63 percent of Republicans who describe themselves as “very conservative” approve of their members of Congress, using two weeks of combined polls. But approval falls below half among Republicans who are just “somewhat conservative,” with 48 percent approving and 49 percent disapproving.
The few Republicans who identify as moderate or liberal disapprove on balance by 53 percent to 42 percent approval of their own party, using combined data from two weeks of interviews.
Which suggests if there is a default many Republicans will be furious about a)the Tea Party’s influence, b)those who enabled it to destroy the party’s already challenged branding.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.