Poll: Majority of GOP Voters Oppose Government Shutdown

Most Republican voters are against the idea of shutting down the government over calls for defunding Obamacare, a new poll for GOP lawmakers indicates.

Among Republicans surveyed as part of a poll conducted by David Winston July 31 and Aug. 1, 53 percent said they would oppose a government shutdown, The Washington Examiner reports. Thirty-seven percent said they favored pushing a shutdown in an effort to erase funding for Obamacare.

Overall, 71 percent of all 1,000 registered voters surveyed said they were against forcing a shutdown.

The poll also found an almost even split among conservative Republicans on the issue.

Those who identified themselves as very conservative were in favor of forcing a shutdown by a margin of 63 percent to 27 percent, while those who identified as somewhat conservative were opposed to a shutdown by 62 percent to 31 percent margin.

"What has to be concerning here is the fact that more than half the people who are presently voting for a Republican oppose this idea," Winston said. "If you’re concerned about what it might look like in terms of a general election, if half the voters who say they are going to vote for a Republican candidate oppose this, then you are creating a conflict for them to vote for a Republican candidate.”

The poll could throw a wrench in some GOP lawmakers efforts to defund Obamacare, especially in the Senate where Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Rand Paul of Kentucky are pushing a plan to defund Obamacare that could result in a showdown next month over a stopgap spending measure that would continue to fund the government.

Many of their own colleagues have already spoken out against their plan out of fears that a government shutdown over Obamacare would hurt them with voters in next year's midterm elections.