This may help explain why House Republicans don’t feel compelled to cut a deal with President Barack Obama over raising the debt ceiling: Most of their constituents think not raising the limit won’t harm the economy.

 

A new poll from the Pew Research Center found 53% of Republicans say it will not be a major problem if the debt ceiling is not raised by August 2, the deadline established by the Obama administration. The feeling is even stronger among the GOP’s Tea Party members and Republican-leaning independents: 65%.

 

With Democrats the sentiment is just the opposite. Fifty-six percent believe it is absolutely essential to meet the August deadline to avoid an economic crisis.

 

Independents are more divided, with 43% saying the country can go past August 2 without major economic problems. Overall, 60% of Americans either don’t think going past August 2 is a problem or don’t know enough to have an opinion.

 

A group of 235 prominent economists, including six Nobel Prize winners, have called on Congress to raise the debt ceiling to avoid default. Two ratings agencies, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, are already threatening to lower the nation’s credit rating before August 2 if a deal isn’t struck soon.   

 

Most of the Republican Party’s top leaders have said publicly that it is imperative to raise the limit so the federal government can meet its obligations. But one congressman, Darrell Issa of California, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, recently changed his tune when he told a public radio audience that August 2 was an “artificial deadline” Obama was using to “extort a deal” out of Congress.

 

The remark was in stark contrast to what Issa said in April, when he called raising the debt ceiling an “inevitability” that “we must do” to “authorize the government to borrow money rather than simply default on its loans.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Bachmann Nation: For Republicans and Tea Partyers, There is No Imminent Crisis (by Greg Sargent, Washington Post)

Public Split Evenly on Urgency of Debt Limit Debate (Pew Research Center)

Darrell Issa: Debt Deadline Is ‘Artificial’ Date Obama Is Using To ‘Extort’ A Deal From Congress (by Travis Waldron, Think Progress)

U.S. AAA Credit Rating in Jeopardy as Risks Get Reality Check (by Tom Petruno, Los Angeles Times)

Economists: Failure to Raise Debt Limit Could Cause Recession (by Zachary Roth, The Lookout)