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The Republicans Blow Themselves Up

Uh, wow. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll is pretty amazing. They say, “Throw the bums out.” More: That’s the message 60 percent of Americans are sending to Washington in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, saying if they had the chance to vote to defeat and replace every single member of Congress, including […]

Uh, wow. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll is pretty amazing. They say, “Throw the bums out.” More:

That’s the message 60 percent of Americans are sending to Washington in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, saying if they had the chance to vote to defeat and replace every single member of Congress, including their own representative, they would. Just 35 percent say they would not.

The impact of the first government shutdown in 17 years was felt across America as offices were shuttered and workers were sent home after lawmakers failed to come to a deal.

The 60 percent figure is the highest-ever figure in that question recorded in the poll, recorded in the wake of the government shutdown and threat of the U.S. defaulting on its debt for the first time in history. If the nation’s debt limit is not increased one week from now, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warns that the entire global economy could be in peril.

“We continue to use this number as a way to sort of understand how much revulsion there is,” said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the poll with Republican Bill McInturff. “We now have a new high-water mark.”

Go deeper into the poll. Highlights:

+ Only 24 percent of those polled have a positive view of the GOP. Fifty-three percent have a negative view. That’s a differential of 29 percent.

+ By contrast, 39 percent have a positive view of the Democratic party. Forty percent have a negative view. That’s a differential of one percent.

+ Twenty-one percent have a positive view of the Tea Party. Negative, 47 percent.

+ Forty-seven percent say they want to see Democrats control Congress; 39 percent want to see the GOP control Congress.

+ 80 percent think the economy will get worse (42%) or stay the same (38%).

+ Fifty-three percent believe the GOP in Congress is most responsible for the shutdown; 31 percent believe President Obama is. Thirteen percent believe both sides are equally at fault. Three percent don’t know.

+ 70 percent say that the Congressional Republicans are putting their own agenda over the good of the country; 51 percent say Obama is doing the same.

+ Forty-three percent say Obamacare is a bad idea; 38 percent say it’s a good idea.

+ Thirty-nine percent favor defunding Obamacare entirely … but only 23 percent believe this so strongly that it’s worth shutting the government down. Fifty percent oppose defunding.

Those last two data points are especially interesting. Yes, Obamacare is unpopular, but fewer than one in four Americans hate it so much that they’re willing to endure the government shutdown to defund it.

Plainly this shutdown has been bad for everybody in Washington, but a complete freaking disaster for Republicans.

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