Republicans To Shoulder Blame If Fiscal Cliff Deal Isn’t Reached [Poll]

A new poll shows that if a deal isn’t reached on the fiscal cliff, Congressional Republicans will shoulder the blame in the public’s eye.

A new Washington Post/Pew Poll released Tuesday shows that more than half of Americans will hold Republicans responsible if the country plummets over the fiscal cliff. A whopping 53 percent of Americans will blame Republicans if a deal isn’t hammered out, while 27 percent will blame President Obama. Democrats were the most likely to fault Republicans, but roughly half of independents and 19 percent of Republicans also said they would blame the GOP.

The Post’s Fix Blog notes:

“Those numbers are largely unchanged from a Post-Pew survey conducted three weeks ago and suggest that for all of the back and forth in Washington on the fiscal cliff, there has been little movement in public perception.”

Most polls show that Americans expect both sides to compromise, and left-leaning pundits have attempted to downplay the severity of the fiscal cliff should President Obama ultimately shoulder the blame. Still, hopes for a bipartisan solution are continually dashed by frequent announcements regarding the lack of progress being made, President Obama’s lengthy planned Hawaii vacation, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s concentration on filibuster reform. Additionally, both President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner’s proposals have been largely rejected for being too partisan.

Worse, the public is catching on to the lack of progress. A CNN survey found that two-thirds of Americans expect elected officials to behave like “spoiled children” in negotiations.

What do you think? Should Republicans shoulder the blame if a fiscal cliff deal isn’t reached, or is the onus shared by all of our elected officials?