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These numbers are astounding. Seventy-one percent of Independents in Virginia now view the Republican Party negatively. Just 23% don’t. Sixty-two percent overall have a negative view of the party. Yes, this is all about the shutdown, so heckofajob, Brownie Ted Cruz.

A new NBC4/NBC News/Marist poll shows the Republican Party collapsing in Virginia, a state deeply impacted by the government shutdown. Fifty-four percent blame Republicans for the shutdown, while just 31% blame President Obama.

Democrats face unfavorables of 45-50% and President Obama has favorables at 50-48%.

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Thirty-nine percent said either they or a family member were affected by the shutdown. In fact, the shutdown stood to hit Virginia harder than any other state, a different survey by Wallet Hub, a financial website, found yesterday. The survey took into account “… the number of federal workers per capita and the amount of federal contract money per capita, both of which helped push Virginia to the top.”

Because of these high numbers, it makes sense that the ABC poll shows 38% saying the shutdown would have a major impact on their vote while 21% said it would have a minor one. Democrat Terry McAuliffe is winning both however; 55-27 and 52-33. Republican Ken Cuccinelli only leads with those who say the government shutdown was not an issue for them, at 49-36.

Among likely voters, McAuliffe leads 46% to 38%.

The ABC poll was taken Oct. 13-15, so it was deep into the shutdown. It’s certainly expected that memories of the shutdown will fade by 2014, but the McAuliffe V Cuccinelli race is on November 5, 2013. Republicans feel they must have the governor’s office in “swing state” Virginia (they use their state executive power to suppress the vote of the Democratic base).

Virginia went 3.9% for Obama in 2012, even though Republicans thought they had it in the bag (read that Forbes link and you’ll get a good idea why even intellectual Republicans are so clueless about reality these days).

Cuccinelli tried bizarrely to blame Democrat McAuliffe for the shutdown, “It’s a failure of leadership … and Terry McAuliffe deserves part of the blame. McAuliffe said he is against compromise, against working together to find solutions.”

But it was Cuccinelli who was stuck pretending not to be with shutdown King and pariah Ted Cruz (R-TX) at a weekend event. Clueless Cruz embraced his fellow Tea Party extremist with high praise, thereby damning Cuccinelli in the eyes of the few Virginians who didn’t know he wanted to ban oral sex.

Cruz condemned Cuccinelli, “Ken is smart, he’s principled and he’s fearless. And that last characteristic in particular is a rare, rare commodity in elected life. There are so many elected officials in both parties that desperately crave the adulation of the media and the intelligentsia.”

Yes, it’s fair to say that Cuccinelli, like most Tea Party members, does not crave the adulation — nor does he receive it — of the intelligentsia.

In other words, if you want more shutdown for fearless conservative crazy, vote for Ken! The shutdown seems to have awakened those Virginians who weren’t paying attention as Ken inferred that Planned Parenthood were racists and that’s not a good thing for Ken Cuccinelli.

Virginians don’t seem to love Terry McAuliffe but they hate Ken Cuccinelli, and frankly, Cuccinelli is so far right he makes Cruz look moderate in some regards. Virginians can thank the shutdown for at one thing — it may help save their state from a Governor Ken Cuccinelli.