Poll: GOP approvals in a nosedive

Greg Sargent: A new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that disapproval of the GOP’s handling of the budget has jumped to 70 percent. Meanwhile, approval of Obama’s handling of it has ticked modestly upwards.

Only 24 percent of Americans approve of the GOP’s handling of the budget, after a week of battling over the shutdown. Only 23 percent of independents approve, versus 73 percent who disapprove. Among moderates, those numbers are 22-73. That’s nearly three fourths of independents and moderates disapproving. (While independents disapprove of Obama’s handling of it, the numbers are far less lopsided; moderates overall approve of his handling.)

But what’s even more striking is the degree to which even Republicans are divided over the GOP’s handling of all of this, with approval being largely concentrated among conservative Republicans.

Meanwhile, wingnut pundit Erick Erickson, who resides in a private island somewhere far off the shores of reality, tells the faithful at RedState.com, “Republicans are winning the shutdown fight, and Democrats know it.”

Yeah, if they were winning by any more it might actually kill them.

[photo via Wikimedia Commons]