Gridlock Could Prove Costly at Polls - Voters May Take Out Frustration Over Lack of Compromise in Washington

Gerald Seib writes in The Wall Street Journal:

In talking with people about the dysfunction in Washington in recent years, one simple question almost inevitably arose: What will it take to end the gridlock? The succinct answer has been equally simple: When voters start punishing rather than rewarding politicians for perpetuating gridlock, behavior will change.
Now it’s possible to add this tantalizing thought: Perhaps this will be the year when that at least starts to change.

Until now, the simple fact is that Americans have complained a lot about gridlock, while essentially voting over and over again to continue it. Politicians who have blocked compromises in Washington have been rewarded consistently at the polls by partisans of both sides. Meanwhile, those who broke party orthodoxy found themselves savaged from within in vicious primary-election fights that have left some lying dead at the side of the road.

Politicians are only human, so they got the message: Voters say they want people to “come together” in Washington, but in truth they punish those who try to do that while rewarding those who eschew compromise.

So why think this year is any different? One big hint comes in a question deep inside the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.