Can GOP Finally Win a Spending Fight?

As Congress struggles to end its stalemate over funding Homeland Security, Republicans are haunted by the stark fact that the public usually blames them for spending gridlock.

The extent of the damage is debated — the GOP, after all, won a landslide election victory last November after being blamed for the shutdown a year earlier — and it splits Republicans themselves over whether to accept a shutdown or avoid it like the plague.

“Everything else being equal, since Republicans now control both Houses in Congress my hypotheses is they will be blamed because they are in charge,” Gallup’s editor in chief, Frank Newport, told the Washington Examiner.

The GOP in recent days has been trying to shift the blame to the Democrats, since it is the opposition party's votes that are blocking the DHS funding bill. But pollsters say it will be difficult to reverse public opinion.

Republicans face a choice. They can alienate their conservative base by capitulating or they can risk public wrath.

"Republicans are not going to suffer a dip in favorability because they are going to find a way to fund DHS,” GOP pollster Whit Ayers told the Examiner. “Republicans are not going to let funding for our national security agency lapse shortly after another horrific terrorist attack in Paris."

“The public needs to know we are not talking about shutting down the government. We are talking about fully funding the DHS, except for the president’s executive actions that most Americans do not support,” Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told the Washington Examiner. “That’s what we have to explain to people.”

The public’s reaction to Obama’s executive actions have been mixed, with some polls showing the majority disapprove and others indicating the public mostly backs them.

“The reason Republicans are having this fight is because it’s a fight they think they can win and I think the American people will be on their side,” Republican pollster Jim McLaughlin said. “The Republicans have not done well when it comes to government shutdowns. This time, it’s different.”

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