The Shutdown Is Killing the Republican Party

With the government shutdown now in its second week, there isn’t a whole lot of movement toward resolution in Congress. But you know what is moving? Republicans’ poll numbers. They’re moving down. Way down. Last week, I wrote about how the business community is becoming increasingly disenchanted with the GOP. Now a new (post-shutdown) survey from Gallup shows that a lot of other people are, too.

The Republican Party’s favorability rating has plunged to 28 percent, the lowest for any party on record. Among other things, this means the GOP is viewed more negatively today than it was during the depths of the Iraq War, the financial crisis, the last debt-ceiling scare, and even Bill Clinton’s impeachment (31 percent).