Are Senate Democrats sure they want to step out further on that branch? A new CNN poll shows that Americans like the DACA program… but not enough to accept a government shutdown in order to keep the program:

Still, 56% overall say approving a budget agreement to avoid a shutdown is more important than continuing the DACA program, while just 34% choose DACA over a shutdown. Democrats break narrowly in favor of DACA — 49% say it’s more important vs. 42% who say avoiding a shutdown is the priority — while majorities of both Republicans (75%) and independents (57%) say avoiding a shutdown is more important.


The survey answers on “who do you blame?” aren’t that much more reassuring to Democrats: “Overall, about half of Americans say they would blame either Trump (21%) or his Republican counterparts in Congress (26%) should Congress fail to fund the government by the midnight Friday deadline. About a third, 31%, say they would hold the Democrats in Congress responsible, and another 10% say they’d blame all three groups.”

This is not a big political winner for Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, and this explains why Joe Manchin says he would vote to keep the government open and Claire McCaskill sounded unenthusiastic about a government shutdown. If people just get mad at “Washington,” that probably makes life slightly more difficult for all incumbents in November.