Although not all Americans are following what Congress has been up to the last few weeks, by and large, those that have are siding with the Democrats on almost every major issue. According to the most recent CBS News poll, Americans not only oppose the "nuclear" option, they also overwhelmingly believe that judicial nominees should have the support of at least three fifths of all Senators to win appointment.

Most Americans think it should take a larger majority of votes in the Senate to move ahead to confirm a federal judge or a Supreme Court judge. For federal judges, 63 percent think it should take 60 Senate votes to move ahead with confirmation, while 35 percent think 51 votes is acceptable. Similarly for Supreme Court judges, 64 percent think it ought to take 60 votes to move ahead, and 31 percent think 51 votes are sufficient.

By a wide margin, the public also wants the two parties to agree on judges, rather than allowing the majority party to decide. 79 percent think both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have to agree that a person should become a judge, even if that takes a long time. 14 percent think that because Republicans have the most Senators, Republicans should get to decide whether a person should be a judge, even if Democrats disagree.

When party names are omitted from the question, the results are similar. 74 percent think both parties need to agree on judges, while 17 percent think the party with the majority in the Senate gets to decide.

More Democrats would like to see 60 votes needed for judges, while a larger number of Republicans would be satisfied with 51 votes. Majorities of Democrats and Republicans would like to see Senators from both parties agree on judicial nominees.

Likewise, on the issue of embryonic stem cell research -- federal funding for which was just approved by the House -- majorities of both parties believe Washington should be providing money for further research.

58% of Americans approve of medical research using embryonic stem cells, while 31% disapprove. Approval is higher now than it was last August; then, 50% approved and 31% disapproved, but 19% had no opinion.

Republicans are less likely than Democrats to approve of it, although half do. Approval of stem cell research among Republicans has risen significantly since last year; then, 37% approved of it, now 50% do. Approval has risen among Democrats as well, although less dramatically, from 57% to 65% now.

It simply boggles the mind to consider that conservative Republicans actually believe that their positions on these two issues are politically tenable -- leaving aside the merits of their stances (which I of course question). It is a long way before the 2006 midterm elections, so the complete repercussions of these Republican moves are unclear. Nevertheless, the short-term consequences will become more evident as Republicans try to push forward with CAFTA, the Bolton nomination and other key issues -- the success of which are all still in doubt.