Poll: Public overwhelmingly opposes Republican position on debt limit

We have yet another reason House Republicans will cave on debt limit

It's already pretty clear that Republicans are ready to cave on the debt limit, but if you want some reassurance, check out these two questions from the new ABC News/Washington Post poll (conducted Jan. 10-13 with a margin of error of ?3.5 percent):

Q: If Congress does not raise its borrowing limit in February, the federal government will have to default on its loans and/or shut down some of its operations. Some people say the borrowing limit should be raised only if spending cuts also are put in place. Others say the two issues should be kept separate. Do you think raising the borrowing limit should be tied to spending cuts, or should these be kept as separate issues?

Should be separate issues: 58
Debt limit should be tied to spending cuts: 36

^{(CORRECTION: Ack! When I first posted this, I transposed the two numbers. Rest assured, 58 percent think the issues should be separate. The numbers are correct now.)}

So by a greater than 3:2 margin, Americans reject the the idea that debt limit increases should be tied to spending cuts. Moreover, if you look at the cross tabs, only 48 percent of Republicans support linking the cuts to the debt limit. And the numbers actually get worse than that for Republicans, because nearly one-third of the 36 percent who think the issues should be linked still do not favor default if spending cuts can't be agreed to:

Q: (IF Tied to spending cuts) If Congress and the Obama administration do not agree on spending cuts, should the borrowing limit be raised anyway OR should the government default on its loans and/or shut down some of its operations? (Based on respondents saying borrowing limit should be "Tied to spending cuts")

Default anyway: 63
Raise debt limit anyway: 29

That means only about 1 in 4.5 Americans actually support following through on the GOP's debt limit bluff. And that's even before they've seen the disastrous consequences of what would happen. Those numbers would only get worse over time. Bottom line: If House Republicans followed through, they'd be kissing their own asses goodbye, from a political perspective. And if there's one thing politicians hate to do, it's kissing their own asses goodbye. In the end, they'll cave.

Originally posted to The Jed Report on Wed Jan 16, 2013 at 07:51 AM PST.

Also republished by Daily Kos.

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Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/sVXWmMxKJy4/-Poll-Public-overwhelmingly-opposes-Republican-position-on-debt-limit

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