Even Republican polling shows that the loopy Ted Cruz scheme to use the threat of government shutdown to force President Obama to defund Obamacare would be a disaster. And here's a new independent survey from Kaiser Family Health Foundation that shows the problem for the "defunders" is even worse than their Republican critics acknowledge:



As you can see, the public opposes defunding by a 21-point margin, 57 percent to 36 percent. The reason this is such bad news for the Ted Cruzes of the world is simple: It shows that if Republicans followed through on his scheme, they would not only be setting themselves up to take the blame for a government shutdown, but they'd be fighting for something that wasn't even popular in the first place.

The reality is that Republicans are never going to come close to adopting the Cruz scheme, although a sizable chunk of them will express their dismay at being overruled. But it's worth remembering that the ultimate reason they won't do it isn't just that they're afraid of getting blamed for closing the government—it's that they're afraid of shutting down the government to accomplish an objective that isn't even popular in the first place.