A poll released Oct. 7 by the Washington Post and ABC News found that 71 percent of voters disapproved of how congressional Republicans have handled the budget negotiations. That compared to disapproval ratings of 61 percent for Democrats in Congress and 51 percent for Obama.
Yet, a survey released Oct.7 by the Pew Research Center found that 45 percent of Tea Party Republicans expressed little or no concern about the effect of the government shutdown. By contrast, 10 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of non-Tea Party Republicans responded the same way.
“We feel as if he has absolutely gone in the right direction,” North Carolina Tea Party activist Jane Bilello said in an Oct. 1 interview of Representative Mark Meadows, one of her state’s Republican House members backing the strategy of using the budget fight to try to derail Obamacare.
Meadows e-mailed “us and a bunch of grassroots groups” as the shutdown began, Biello said, “and everyone of us e-mailed back and said you have done the right thing, stay the course.”
‘Protect’ Economy
Patti Weaver, a Pennsylvania Tea Party activist who supported Republican Keith Rothfus when he won his House seat in the state in 2012, said in an Oct. 1 interview that “the most important thing is to protect the American economy from Obamacare. The long-term health of the economy is far more important than a shutdown.”
Fleming’s constituents express similar views.
Brad Bradley, a retiree walking through downtown Shreveport on Oct. 7, criticized Obama for using the government shutdown to “screw with us.” He encouraged Republicans in Congress to keep fighting rather than negotiate to open the government, which he said he hasn’t missed.
“Either they’re going to do that or we’re going to give our country away,” he said. “I don’t want socialism here.”
Fleming faced no Democratic opponent in 2012 and garnered won 75 percent of the vote in winning a third term against a Libertarian challenger. Obama lost the district by 19 percentage points in both 2008 and 2012.