Even within the partisan framework, a healthy plurality of Americans hold the Republican Party solely responsible for the current budget impasse.
Yet, when people are asked about policy instead of politics, the numbers widen to their usual 60-plus percent agreement - the margin by which Americans are united on most major policy issues.
Looking at some of the key paragraphs below, what is on display is just how out of step the GOP is with the greater part of the country:
According to the poll, which was conducted Friday through Sunday, 46% say they would blame congressional Republicans for a government shutdown, with 36% saying the president would be more responsible and 13% pointing fingers at both the GOP in Congress and Obama.
Some 68% say a shutdown for a few days would be a bad thing for the country, with that number rising to nearly eight in 10 for a shutdown lasting a few weeks.
Six in 10 questioned in the CNN survey say that it is more important for Congress to avoid a shutdown than to make major changes to the new health care law, with only a third saying it is more important for lawmakers to prevent major provisions in the new health care law from taking effect by cutting the funds needed to implement them.
And then there's this:
"Who's driving this strategy: 40 to 50 of the most conservative members of the House, and four or five of the most conservative members of the Senate," says CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. "Fifty-six percent of tea party supporters say it's a good thing to shut down the government. These are the folks those most conservative members of Congress are listening to. Those lawmakers think back home they're on safe ground even though nationally shutting down the government is a non-starter."
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/30/politics/cnn-poll-shutdown-blame/index.html
