I posted yesterday about the political game the congressional Republicans are playing with funding for the Department of Homeland Security. House Republicans tacked a couple of "poison pills" onto that funding bill -- provisions that would overturn two immigration executive orders issued by President Obama (preventing the deportation of "Dreamers" and their families).
Senate Democrats have filibustered the bill, and the Republicans don't have the votes to override that filibuster. Democrats are demanding a clean funding bill -- a bill without the offending provisions. So far, the Republicans in the House are refusing to pass a clean bill, and say they will accept the shutting down of the Department of Homeland Security at the end of this month if necessary.
But the Republicans are once again playing with fire, because the general public doesn't like what they are doing. About 59% of the general public (along with 66% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans) say shutting down the Department of Homeland Security would pose a crisis or major problem for this country -- and they don't like it.
The Republicans want to blame failure of the bills passage on the Democrats (and the president), but that won't fly. The public knows which party is to blame for this mess, and a majority of 53% say the blame would rest with the congressional Republicans. Only 30% would blame Democrats (and the president), while 13% say both parties would be to blame.
The Republicans seem determined to keep the public angry with Congress.
The charts above were made with information from a new CNN / ORC Poll -- done between February 12th and 15th of a random national sample of 1,027 adults, and has a margin of error of 3 points.