Why the Republicans need to compromise on the fiscal cliff

The latest Washington Post poll finds that Republicans will be disproportionately blamed (as they should) if we should go over the “fiscal cliff.”  I think some of the underlying data in the latest Gallup on the matter is quite telling.

Democrats overwhelmingly support Obama 86-9.  Republicans only support their leaders in Congress by a 56-39 margin.  Wow. Huge advantage Obama.  And although Republican rank-and-file is typically much less prone towards compromise than Democrats that’s not a much the case here:

Short version: pretty much all the political pressure to give in is on the Republicans.  Doesn’t mean they will, but you’d sure want to have Obama’s hand in these negotiations.

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