Democratic alarm: A poll reveals that the government shutdown has boosted Republicans' popularity

Congressional Republicans increased their positive image since the start of the government shutdown. So explained data journalist Harry Enten on CNN, where he carried a series of polls showing that the Republican Party has become more popular since last October 1, setting off an alarm for Democrats in Washington DC.

Since the start of the shutdown, both parties have tried to win the media argument over who is really responsible for this situation that freezes the pay of 900,000 state workers. In this context, the data journalist revealed that the GOP is outpacing Democrats on that score.

In dialogue with his colleague John Berman, who predicted that ultimately "political damage" would end up being the deciding factor in ending the shutdown, Enten explained that voters don't perceive the GOP as the biggest culprit in what is already the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history.

"You might think, given that the Republicans are in charge of both the House and the Senate, that a government shutdown might actually hurt the Republican brand. But in fact, it hasn’t! If anything, it’s been helped a little bit!" the journalist expressed.

He then noted that the Republican Party's image rose two percentage points since the shutdown, while the image of congressional Republicans rose five points.

"So what we’re seeing here is the Republican brand in Congress has actually improved somewhat compared to where we were pre-shutdown, despite the fact that Republicans control. And that’s the math that John Thune and Mike Johnson are looking at is, ‘Hey, why should we give in, electorally speaking, when our brand has actually improved a little bit?'" Enten added.

To Berman's surprise, the data journalist went on to stress that the increase in positive image was 12 points among Republicans and eight points among independents.

"Because something could rally the base, but alienate those in the middle, or something could rally those in the middle, but alienate the base. (...) But the truth is, we’re not seeing that. What we’re seeing is the Republican brand has actually gotten better among independents and it’s also gotten better among Republicans as well, that Republican brand when it comes to those in Congress. So again, what’s the electoral reason that Republicans would give in at this point?" he stated.