That should be the headline. But it isn’t:
There is also no reason that the following piece does not explain that Democrats have never held the debt ceiling hostage and voted to extend it without any drama in the Bush and Trump years. This kind of coverage without the context to understand the dynamic means those Independents who blame both parties probably don’t understand what really going on.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll finds Americans divided on who they would blame if the nation’s debt ceiling is not raised and the government goes into default, a potentially devastating outcome that could happen as soon as June 1.
The poll finds 39 percent of Americans say they would blame Republicans in Congress if the government goes into default, while 36 percent say they would blame President Biden and 16 percent volunteer that they would blame both equally. (That dynamic is similar to the 2011 debt limit showdown, when 42 percent said they would blame congressional Republicans and 36 percent said they would blame President Obama. Lawmakers averted a default that year.)
Opinionsfall sharply along party lines, with Republicans just as likely to blame Biden (78 percent) as Democrats are to blame congressional Republicans (78 percent). A 37 percent plurality of independents say they would blame Republicans, with the remainder divided between Biden (29 percent) and blaming both equally (24 percent).
In fairness, they do mention this way down in the story:
During the Trump administration, Republicans raised the debt limit several times without calling for spending cuts.
It’s only deeper into the story that we see it’s not nearly as evenly divided as they portray it in the opening paragraphs:
A 58 percent majority of Americans say the debt limit and federal spending should be handled as separate issues, down from 65 percent who said this in February. A much smaller 26 percent of Americans say Congress should only allow the government to pay its debts if Biden agrees to cut spending, the same share as February.
What? How can that be? I thought they blamed both parties equally. It seems to be a little bit more complicated than that. Still they manage to make it sound as if the Democrats are the ones in trouble:
Most Democrats and independents say the debt limit should be handled separately from federal spending, although the share saying this declined by nine percentage points to 74 percent among Democrats, and by 15 points to 58 percent among independents since February.
Republicans are more divided, with 46 percent saying the debt limit and spending should be handled separately and 40 percent saying the ceiling should be lifted only if Biden agrees to cut spending. In February, 48 percent of Republicans said the debt limit should be tied to spending cuts.
Blame for a possible default varies by age and education. Americans 65 and older are more likely to blame Republicans in Congress if the government goes into default (47 percent) than adults under 40, 35 percent of whom say the same. Americans with college degrees are also more likely to lay blame on Republicans (47 percent) than those without four-year degrees (35 percent).
The truth is that more Republicans believe the debt limit and spending cuts should be handled separately. Imagine if that was the headline. It should be.
Democrats pay the bills no matter who is in the White House. Republicans only pay the bills when a Republican is in the White House. Under a Democratic president they threaten the world economy to force him to enact their agenda. This has happened over and over again. It’s not as if the media can’t make this clear when they report the story. This is why we can’t have nice things.