Poll: 7 in 10 oppose shutdown over Planned Parenthood funds

Nearly 70 percent of voters say they would oppose a government shutdown in an effort to defund Planned Parenthood, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

While support for Planned Parenthood is split among party lines, fewer than one-quarter of all voters say they would support a shutdown if it meant defunding the group, according to the poll released Monday.

{mosads}Only 36 percent of Republicans said they support a shutdown, though 71 percent said they wanted to strip the group of its federal funding.

GOP leaders are racing to fund the government before Wednesday, the deadline for the must-pass spending bill to avoid a shutdown.

A small core of conservatives has pushed the government to the brink of a shutdown this week after a string of undercover videos were released that targeted Planned Parenthood this summer.

But the odds of a shutdown shrank dramatically on Friday when Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced that he would be resigning within one month.

Boehner declared in an interview Sunday that there would not be a government shutdown, vowing that the House would take up the Senate spending bill that is expected to pass Monday.

The Ohio Republican had been the target of a coup by the same group trying to shut down the government, and his exit is already easing some of the tension that had accumulated among House Republicans.

Several House conservatives have reiterated that they would oppose a “clean” spending bill that includes funding for Planned Parenthood, though Boehner is now able to pass that bill with support from Democrats without political ramifications.

Boehner and his leadership team also announced an expansion of their investigation into Planned Parenthood over the weekend, another move intended to appease conservatives who have fiercely attacked the group for its alleged wrongdoing in its fetal-tissue donation program. No criminal charges have been brought against the healthcare provider.