Kossacks -- Let's be honest, after years of Republican gerrymandering, taking back the House in 2014 will not be easy.
But what seemed far-fetched before--winning a Democratic majority in Congress for Barack Obama's last two years as president--is now within reach, thanks to the GOP's own actions. They recklessly drove our government into a shutdown because they can't accept the reality that in a democracy, elections matter, and that the Affordable Care Act is the law. Voters are starting to indicate the GOP could pay for that big time at the polls.
New polling out today from Public Policy Polling (PPP) of 12 key House districts shows many Republican incumbents trailing generic Democratic challengers. The surveys conducted this week in GOP-held House districts add to 24 surveys conducted last week and indicate an even greater number of Republican incumbents are in danger of being voted out of office next year thanks to the government shutdown.
PPP has now surveyed 36 House seats over the past two weeks, and the results show Republicans are in serious danger in 29 of the 36. (View the complete memo from PPP.)
The polling, which was commissioned and paid for by MoveOn.org Political Action, shows what has been clear to many people for some time: holding our nation's economy hostage, shutting down the government and threatening default all in the name of denying people health care is not only terrible policy, it is bad politics.
Take a look at the map for yourself to see which Republicans are now vulnerable:
http://www.moveon.org/...
For the last two weeks, MoveOn.org has been calling out the GOP for its role in shutting down the government by airing a national TV ad on MSNBC and CNN, running a prominent Washington Post homepage ad, and turning out thousands of members at congressional offices across the country. On Tuesday, October 15th, MoveOn members will step up their campaigning to hold these vulnerable Republicans accountable for their reckless behavior by taking to the streets to protest the government shutdown, and releasing a series of hard-hitting ads in several of these districts.
Ilya Sheyman is executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action. He ran as a Democratic primary candidate in IL_10 in 2011.