With the government shutdown now poised to end , it’s clear Republicans are in worse shape politically now than when it started. The question is whether that will prove to be temporary — as has been the case with past funding showdowns — or if the political atmosphere has been reset in a way that will linger into next year’s midterm elections.

As the six-week shutdown played out, President Donald Trump’s job approval rating ebbed to the lowest point of his second term, with a majority of voters pinning the blame on him and Republicans in Congress. Democrats opened up a wide lead in the generic congressional ballot — 8 points in our NBC News poll , a level last seen in the run-up to the “blue wave” in the 2018 midterms.

And then there was last Tuesday, when Democrats posted an unexpe

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