There’s growing angst among Republicans that the party’s House majority could be at risk in 2014 if the deep GOP divisions that emerged during the recent “fiscal cliff” negotiations persist in looming negotiations over a slew of budgetary issues.
Even as Republican officials maintain the GOP majority is safe, several lawmakers and longtime activists warn of far-reaching political ramifications if voters perceive Republicans as botching consequential talks on the debt ceiling, sequestration and a possible government shutdown.
“Majorities are elected to do things, and if they become dysfunctional, the American people will change what the majority is,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a House deputy majority whip and a former National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, told The Hill.
Concerns on the right stem from a public perception that House Republicans were to blame — because of poor leadership strategy and rank-and-file dissent — for bringing the country to the edge of the fiscal cliff late last month.
“Only 19 percent of Americans approved of the job Republican leaders did on the issue, while 48 percent said they approved of Obama’s handling of the negotiations, according to a Pew Research Center poll,” the report goes on. Meanwhile, the right-leaning Rasmussen’s numbers show “Democrats with an 11-point lead over Republicans in the generic congressional ballot.”
Democrats need to take 17 districts to retake the House of Representatives. While that may be a tough slog, it’s looking more possible as time goes on. According to Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel, the party has “30 districts where the [GOP] incumbent [won by] less than 10 percent and an additional 18 districts that we think can perform better” in an off-year election. With a big lead in the generic ballot, swing districts will tend to swing left.
[image source, h/t Political Wire]
