WaPo Poll: Americans Split Over Who's to Blame for Government Shutdown

In what surely has to be sobering news for President Obama and the Democrats, a Washington Post poll shows that Americans are evenly divided over who to blame for an impending government shutdown.

The poll, released Monday, reported that 37 percent would blame Republicans and an identical 37 percent would blame Democrats if a shutdown occurs Friday. Fifteen percent say both sides are equally to blame.

That down-the-middle split is dramatically different than what pollsters found in the government shutdown of 1995, when public sentiment was decidedly against congressional Republicans.

How times have changed. Now it's a pox on both their houses.