Poll Finds That repugicans Are In Danger of Losing The House Over Government Shutdown

 

A new PPP poll looked at 24 House districts held by repugicans, and since the government shutdown 21 of them now have generic Democratic candidates leading.
PPP found that, “The surveys, commissioned and paid for by MoveOn.org Political Action, show repugican incumbents behind among registered voters in head-to-head contests with generic Democratic challengers in 17 districts. In four other districts, the incumbent repugican falls behind a generic Democratic candidate after respondents are told that the repugican incumbent supported the government shutdown. In only three districts do repugican incumbents best generic Democratic challengers after voters are told the incumbent supported the government shutdown.”
The districts, with the exception of one, all had something in common. They were seats held by repugicans in states that were won by President Obama in 2012. This poll strikes right at the heart of the conventional wisdom that gerrymandering will keep House repugicans safe no matter what they do.
As Robert Costa pointed out in The Washington Post, there are more centrist repugicans in the House than you might think. Costa wrote, “They may sometimes be silent and fearful of stirring wingnut ire, but more than 100 members of the House repugican cabal are much more centrist than you’d imagine. These are the members from purple and light-red districts, who rarely go on television and, unlike their more unruly colleagues, stick with the leadership. They are critical to sustaining Boehner’s power, and, should the repugican cabal find a way to extend the debt limit and once again fund the government, they’ll deserve credit”
Those 100 House repugicans in blue or purple states all are their seats put in jeopardy by the behavior of their repugican colleagues who reside in safe red districts. House repugicans are being widely blamed for the shutdown. John Boehner continues to refuse to open the government, and raise the debt limit. Boehner and the extremists that he is listening to are still making demands as if they are in charge of the situation.
The House repugicans who are following Ted Cruz have put themselves in a position for defeat by not facing reality. They think that they will “win” by getting the president and Senate Democrats to cave to their threats. Cruz and his House repugicans really believe that they can get the country to blame President Obama for the shutdown and any potential default.
What they don’t understand is that the country has been watching House repugicans threaten and obstruct for years. They already know who is to blame. The moderate House repugicans are trying to save their own hides by floating anonymous proposals in the media for a short term funding and raising of the debt ceiling.
John Boehner’s refusal to hold a clean vote on a CR and the debt limit could hand Democrats back control of the House of Representatives. Obamacare isn’t going anywhere, but scores of House repugicans will find themselves out of a job after November 2014.