POLL: More Than Half Of Republicans Think A Government Shutdown Is Fine If It Means More Spending Cuts.

More than half of all self-identified Republicans said they thought a government shutdown is an appropriate price to pay for a deal guaranteeing additional spending cuts, a poll found.

The poll was carried out by SurveyMonkey on behalf of Business Insider through their Audience polling feature. While online polling has historically been criticized for inaccuracies, SurveyMonkey has an excellent track record and was more accurate during the election than many phone-based pollsters.

Overall, 51 percent of Republicans said that they agreed that a shutdown of the federal government would be acceptable in exchange for cuts, while only 16 percent disagreed. Among Republicans, 30 percent were unsure.

Democrats were much more strongly opposed to using a government shutdown as a negotiating tactic, with only 16 percent in favor and 49 percent opposed. Independents were more evenly split, with 24 percent in favor, 29 percent opposed and 26 percent unsure.

Here's the breakdown:

The poll also found that while 81 percent of respondents knew wat the debt ceiling was, 19 percent admitted they did not know or weren't sure.

If there was a government shutdown, 35 percent of respondents would hold the Republican party responsible, 15 percent would hold Democrats responsible, and 48 percent would hold both parties responsible.

Sixty percent of respondents would consider Congress to blame in the event of a debt ceiling negotiation breakdown and a subsequent shutdown.

The poll had a sample of 651 respondents and was carried out between January 18 and January 23.

Here's the full poll:

Business Insider Government Shutdown Poll by