Democrats, Republicans, president to blame for US shutdown? All three, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
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US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on the move following the Republican leaders’ weekly policy lunch on Capitol Hill on Oct 7 as the government shutdown continues.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – Americans blame both Republicans and Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown
The five-day poll, completed on Oct 7, asked Americans nationwide how much blame Democrats, Republicans and US President Donald Trump deserve for the shutdown, now on its ninth day.
Some 67 per cent of respondents said Republicans deserved a fair amount or a great deal of blame, while 63 per cent said the same of Democrats. Some 63 per cent also said Mr Trump, a Republican, deserves at least a fair amount of blame.
The survey of 1,154 adults nationwide has a margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction, meaning the level of blame is broadly similar for the two parties and for Mr Trump.
Republican and Democratic leaders blame the other side for the shutdown, which started Oct 1 after Congress failed to approve new spending legislation.
Both parties are trying to position themselves to benefit politically from the shutdown heading into the November 2026 midterm elections, though some lawmakers have warned about trying to eke out an edge from a situation that involves significant staffing shortages at federal offices and is already leading to delays in air travel
“At the end of the day, we’re hurting people somewhere. How in the world can we come out ahead?” said Republican Senator Jim Justice of West Virginia.
“This is not a game, really, of the Senate against the House or the Republicans against the Democrats. This is real (life) people who are depending upon us to do our jobs right.”
Republicans have majorities in both chambers of Congress but cannot pass a funding Bill without some Democratic votes in the Senate, which requires 60 of the 100 members to agree on most legislation.
Democrats say they will not support a Bill until Republicans agree to extend health insurance subsidies, with congressional Democrats arguing that public ire will fall on Republicans as many Americans in October get notices on how much they will have to pay for health insurance in 2026.
“The public is seeing how bad healthcare costs are and their rising prices, and they know we’re on their side,” said Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer.
Worries about hits to services
Many Americans worry the shutdown could hit them personally.
Some 49 per cent of respondents to the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they were concerned there could be delays in services they rely on, such as Social Security payments or student aid. Meanwhile, 33 per cent said they were not worried.
Some 39 per cent of Democrats said they were very concerned about the shutdown, while 12 per cent of Republicans said the same.
Mr Trump, who took office pledging to slash the federal workforce, has threatened to carry out mass firings during the shutdown but the White House has sent mixed signals on whether permanent layoffs were coming.
Among respondents, Republican taste for mass firings has ebbed since earlier in 2025 when Mr Trump enlisted billionaire Elon Musk to slash federal spending under an office known as the Department of Government Efficiency.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on April 2, 76 per cent of Republican respondents said they supported firing tens of thousands of federal workers.
In the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, 62 per cent of Republicans backed large-scale layoffs. Only 8 per cent of Democrats backed layoffs, a trivially small share in public polling and largely unchanged from the prior poll. REUTERS
