Byron York passes on news of a new poll that seems to throw massive amounts of cold water on efforts by Senator Ted Cruz and other Republicans to force a government shutdown unless the President and Democrats in the Senate agree to defund Obamacare:
A new poll done for Republican members of Congress has found huge public opposition, and solid opposition among Republicans, to the idea of shutting down the government over the issue of funding Obamacare.
In a national survey of 1,000 registered voters done July 31 and August 1, the question, from pollster David Winston, said, “Some members of Congress have proposed shutting down the government as a way to defund the president’s health care law” and asked respondents whether they favored or opposed that plan.
Overall, 71 percent of those surveyed opposed a shutdown, while 23 percent favored a shutdown. Among Republicans, 53 percent opposed, versus 37 percent who favored.
Winston found a huge gender gap among Republicans. Republican men favored a shutdown by a narrow 48 percent to 44 percent margin. But Republican women opposed it by an enormous 61 percent to 29 percent margin.
There is one segment of the GOP that supports the plan, but its a very small segment of the electorate:
Among Republicans who called themselves conservative, those who said they are very conservative favored shutdown by 63 percent to 27 percent, while those who said they are somewhat conservative opposed shutdown by 62 percent to 31 percent. Overall, Republicans who call themselves conservative were evenly split on the issue, 46 percent to 46 percent.
Conservative Republicans make up about 19 percent of the entire electorate. Of that number about nine percent call themselves very conservative, while ten percent say they are somewhat conservative. What the poll suggests is that even that conservative cohort is deeply split on the defunding initiative.
While conservative Tea Party activists will likely continue to stick their heads in the sand over this issue, these polls numbers are likely to provide additional ammunition to those Republicans who have been the most vocal in speaking out against the shutdown plan, as well as provide ammunition to Republican leadership in both Houses of Congress to resist the efforts of the Tea Party crowd to force a fight on this issue.
