Republicans Favor Government Shutdown to Prevent Obamacare

Republicans tend to think a GOP congressional shutdown to stop funding for President Barack Obama's health care law will be good for their party, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll released Tuesday.

The survey found 42 percent of likely Republican voters believe threatening to vote against a government funding bill unless it cuts off funds for the health care law will ultimately help the GOP, while 28 percent disagree and instead believe it will hurt their party. Only 14 percent said it would have no impact, and 16 percent said they weren't sure.

Unsurprisingly, most Democrats -- 52 percent -- believe the threats will end up hurting the Republican Party. Unaffiliated voters seem to agree -- 48 percent of them said threatening to vote against full government funding will hurt Republicans.

Among all voters, 22 percent believe threatening to vote against a government funding bill unless the health care law is defunded will help the Republican Party, while 43 percent believe it will hurt the GOP.

Recent polls have shown most voters have an unfavorable opinion of the health care law since it was passed by Congress in 2010. No Republicans voted for the law at the time.

The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted on Aug. 25-26. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.