Cruzifying

Poll: Basically Everyone Now Angry at GOP Over Shutdown

David Weigel at Slate:
The Fix says that the new Washington Post poll shows Republicans losing ground in a "no-win situation." I get that—every party is losing some air from their metaphorical balloons. But this is a two-party system, and one party is clearly taking most of the blame. (Chart via WaPo.)

Since the rumors of shutdown began, the percentage of people angry at Obama has jumped 3 points; the percentage blaming Democrats, 5 points; the percentage blaming Republicans, 11 points. It's roughly the same if you ask whether people "strongly disapprove" of how the players are handling themselves. Respectively, those numbers have jumped 4 points, 8 points, and 12 points.

This is the context in which Democrats delight in blaming everything on Ted Cruz. "The theater that went on with Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz—it's like there's a group of us desparately trying to put out a fire, and they're throwing gasoline on it," said Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, one of the Democratic moderates, after leaving a quorum call today. "That's not good."