Democrats can\u2019t seem to get out of their own way regarding their effort to try to somehow blame the current three-week government shutdown on Republicans. Their latest effort is a great big fail, and worse, they did it to themselves.<\/p>\n
Democrats are taking it on the chin over the Schumer Shutdown \u2014 and it shows in the generic-ballot polls. The numbers are sliding, and they know it. Still, they keep parroting the line that Americans somehow blame Donald Trump and the GOP for refusing to pass a \u201cclean\u201d continuing resolution. It\u2019s pure spin, and everyone outside the MSNBC bubble knows it.<\/p>\n
Anyone with even a passing grasp of how Congress works understands that Democrats are the ones blocking funding, hiding behind filibusters, and then crying foul when Republicans call them out. But because the truth doesn\u2019t serve their narrative, they\u2019re doing what they do best \u2014 cooking up \u201cdata\u201d to make it look like the public\u2019s on their side.<\/p>\n
Today, Democrats tried to save face by leaking the results of their own internal polling to Punchbowl\u2019s Jake Sherman \u2014 and let\u2019s just say it didn\u2019t exactly bolster their narrative:<\/p>\n
Yikes.<\/p>\n
Even a Democrat-friendly pollster couldn\u2019t twist the numbers enough to make this look good. Their own internal data shows voters blaming Republicans barely more than Democrats \u2014 45% to 42% \u2014 which is well within the margin of error. In other words, it\u2019s a tie. And that\u2019s with a handpicked sample designed to make Democrats look better than they actually are.<\/p>\n
Worse for them, the trend line is moving in the wrong direction. The share of voters blaming Republicans hasn\u2019t budged, but the number blaming Democrats has inched upward over the past three weeks. That\u2019s a flashing red warning sign, leading some respondents to wonder why the D\u2019s would share that data in the first place:<\/p>\n
Sure, a few hyper-partisans on both sides will assign blame \u2014 Republicans, Democrats, whatever \u2014 but for the vast majority of the country, it\u2019s background static. People know the government will reopen, the lights will stay on, and their daily lives won\u2019t change one bit. These polls don\u2019t measure real public sentiment; they measure how invested political junkies and media insiders are in their own narratives.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s this: Even CNN\u2019s data guru, Harry Enten, is baffled by the fact that President Trump\u2019s personal approval rating since the now weeks-long shutdown began is up by a point.<\/p>\n
Granted, the numbers are close \u2014 well within the margin of error. But that\u2019s exactly the problem for Democrats. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries gambled big with this shutdown stunt, hoping to boost their image heading into the midterms by dusting off the same tired playbook: blame Donald Trump. It\u2019s their favorite boogeyman, even though that strategy has flopped repeatedly over the past two years.<\/p>\n
The plan backfired. Instead of padding their modest generic-ballot lead of roughly 3.6 points over the summer, Democrats have watched it collapse \u2014 now sitting under two points. That\u2019s political freefall. And here\u2019s the kicker: they need around a D+5 margin just to have a shot at keeping the House. In other words, they\u2019re not just stalling \u2014 they\u2019re sinking.<\/p>\n
The Schumer Shutdown wasn\u2019t a show of strength; it was a desperation move that blew up in their faces. And the longer it goes, the worse it\u2019ll be for Democrats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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