Arkansas Poll: Most Blame Obama, Democrats for Shutdown

More voters in Arkansas blame President Barack Obama and Democrats than congressional Republicans for the government shutdown, a poll released Monday showed.

The Talk Business-Hendrix College survey found 40 percent of voters laid the blame for the shutdown on Obama and his party in Congress, while 35 percent pointed the finger at Republican lawmakers.

Twenty-four percent of voters surveyed said both are equally to blame.

The president's job approval ratings also were dismal in the poll: Only 34 percent of those surveyed approve of how Obama is doing while 62 percent disapprove.

The Arkansas results also found among independent voters, 49 percent blamed Obama and Democrats, while 30 percent blamed Republicans in Congress.

In the Senate race in Arkansas, the survey shows Sen. Mark Pryor, a Democrat from Arkansas, at 42 percent, in a statistical dead-heat with Republican Rep. Tom Cotton, who garnered 41 percent — with nearly a year to go.

"One would assume that such dismal approval numbers would doom an incumbent senator running for re-election," Jay Barth, professor of political science at Hendrix College, noted in his breakdown of the results. "Yet Pryor continues to hold a sliver of a lead over his challenger."

The poll found among independents, however, Cotton has a 48 percent to 42 percent lead.
The results defy national polling that indicates more blame being placed on the Republicans in Congress than on Obama and the Democrats.

This survey was conducted Oct. 8, and has a margin of error of 4 percent.