Political parties seem to suffer through internal battles periodically, but the current state of the GOP is much worse than what Democrats went through some 25 years ago, when organized labor and old-style liberals fought against the Democratic Leadership Council for the soul of the party. [cont.] Stuart Rothenberg Read more »
Poll Shows Disapproval of Threat of Government Shutdown
Eight in 10 Americans find it unacceptable for either President Obama or members of Congress to threaten to shut down the government during budget negotiations in order to achieve their goals, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. Fewer than 1 in 5 think the stalemate between Mr. […] Read more »
How Did Conservatives Get This Radical?
… Mainstream conservatives trying to figure out how to extract their party from the hole their more extreme colleagues are digging for them face a major hurdle: the dependence of the national Republican Party on the votes of besieged whites, especially white southerners. … There may be no way to […] Read more »
Blame for Both Sides as Possible Government Shutdown Approaches
If the federal government shuts down because Republicans and the Obama administration fail to agree on a budget, there will be plenty of blame to go around. About as many say they would blame the Republicans (39%) for such a standoff as say they would blame Obama (36%), with 17% […] Read more »
As shutdown and default loom, crisis mode becomes Washington’s new normal
… Conservatives and tea party activists insist that Republicans will be rewarded for going to the barricades to stop the health-care law. And just about every poll shows that, three years after its passage, Obamacare remains unpopular with voters. In the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, 52 percent said they disapprove […] Read more »
In Washington, countdown to a shutdown
… As one Republican pollster told me, though a majority of voters don’t like Obamacare, they’re not angry enough about it to risk a fiscal crisis that could hurt the economy. So why are Republican lawmakers hearing a different message? Because most of them represent districts so conservative that they […] Read more »