A new survey shows Americans are divided over who to blame for the government shutdown as the federal shuttering nears 40 days, already making it the longest in modern United States history.
A YouGov survey released Friday found 32 percent of respondents blame Democrats for the shutdown, while 35 percent fault Republicans and 28 percent say both parties are equally responsible.
The share of the blame placed on Republicans, though, has dropped by 4 percentage points since YouGov last asked the question in mid-October, while the percentage blaming both sides equally has increased by 4 points.
But over the past month, net approval for how parties are handling the shutdown has worsened for both President Trump (-21 to -27) and congressional Republicans (-23 to -27). Net approval for congressional Democrats has stayed low but mostly unchanged (-25 to -26) since October, according to YouGov.
Elsewhere in the survey findings, more Democrats said they’ve been personally impacted by the shutdown than Republicans.
Forty-seven percent of Democratic respondents said they have been affected “somewhat” or “a great deal,” compared to 25 percent of Republicans.
Still, President Trump said the GOP’s Tuesday election losses were partially impacted by the record-breaking shutdown, noting polls showing it “was a big factor, negative, for the Republicans.”
He also suggested his absence on the ballot was a factor. Lawmakers in Washington have been working through the weekend to push past the stalemate.
The president has encouraged GOP lawmakers in the Senate to do away with the filibuster to approve the House-authored continuing resolution with a simple majority. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), however, said the maneuver could backfire on Republicans when and if Democrats regain control of the upper chamber.
The YouGov poll was conducted among 1,623 U.S. adult citizens from an opt-in panel Oct. 24-27. The margin of error was approximately 3.5 percent.
Source: The Hill
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