WASHINGTON (AP) — As the government shutdown drags on with no end in sight, a modern AP-NORC poll finds that most Americans see it as a significant problem — and blame all major players.
About six in 10 Americans say President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans bear “a lot” or “quite a lot” of responsibility for the shutdown, while 54% say the same about congressional Democrats, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. At least three-quarters of Americans believe each of them deserves at least a “moderate” share of the blame, underscoring that no one can evade responsibility.
The poll, conducted during the third week of the shutdown, comes as leaders warn it could soon be the longest in history. Democrats are demanding an extension of tax credits that have helped millions of people afford health insurance since the coronavirus pandemic, while Republicans have refused to negotiate until Congress passes a funding bill to reopen the government.
The standoff has devolved into a messaging battle, with each party betting that the public will blame the other. The stakes are particularly high for Democrats, now out of power and looking for a unifying fight to rally around before the crucial 2026 midterm elections.
A slightly larger portion of the public’s frustration appears to be directed at the ruling party. The poll found that about half of Americans say Trump bears “a large share” of responsibility for the shutdown, the highest responsibility in the poll. That’s about the same share that blames Republicans in Congress, but higher than the 40% who say the same of Democrats.
Sophia Cole, a 38-year-old Republican mother from St. Louis, blamed Trump and Congress equally for the shutdown. Cole, who described herself as a Trump supporter, said both sides “should be able to come to a compromise” but believes it is ultimately the Republican president’s responsibility to broker a deal.
“We depend on him to get the House and everyone to vote the way he needs them to,” Cole said.
Democrats and independents are more likely to describe the shutdown as a “big problem”
The effects of the shutdown are being felt across the country. Flights are delayed and hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are furloughed or working without pay are starting to miss their paychecks.
The poll found that 54% of U.S. adults called the shutdown a “big problem,” while just 11% said it was “not a problem at all.” Democrats are the most likely to say this is a major problem, at 69%, but 59% of independents and 37% of Republicans feel the same way.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said this week that the country is “heading toward one of the longest lockdowns in American history.” The last shutdown during Trump’s first term lasted a record 35 days and sparked similar public sentiment, with Democrats more likely to view it as a major problem than Republicans.
The White House has warned that the impact of the shutdown could be worse this time. While about two million military personnel were paid on time this week, the government used federal employees as leverage and began making good on threats to lay off federal employees last weekend. But on Wednesday, a federal judge in California temporarily blocked the shooting, saying it appeared to be politically motivated and carried out without much thought.
“Things are getting worse for federal workers,” said Angie Santiago, a 60-year-old Democrat from Miami. “When people like me are struggling, I can’t imagine what federal employees go through.”
Santiago, who is unable to work while her husband works, said she fears the shutdown will worsen economic hardship across the country. Santiago said during a phone interview that she started visiting food banks regularly about a year ago.
“I’m calling you from a food line,” she said. “More of these lines are going to come up. It’s going to get bad.”
More supporters than opponents of expanding health subsidies
At the heart of the shutdown is the stalemate over federal tax credits for people who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Democrats want the loans extended, while Republicans say they won’t discuss the issue until the government reopens.
The poll shows that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults support expanding tax credits, while about 1 in 10 oppose it. A gigantic share, 42%, have no opinion, suggesting that many Americans are not closely following the core dispute driving the shutdown.
Jason Beck, a Republican and self-employed insurance agent in Utah, uses the Affordable Care Act marketplace for his own insurance and supports expanding tax credits.
“I know a big part of the shutdown is related to health insurance, and I would rather keep it the way it is now,” Beck said of the subsidies.
Democrats say maintaining health insurance prices is central to their fight and that prices will skyrocket if Congress doesn’t act. But even Beck, who is on the Democratic side with the subsidies, blames Democrats, Republicans and Trump equally for the shutdown.
“Trump blames the Democrats, and the Democrats blame the Republicans,” Beck said. “We are stuck because there is no middle ground anymore.”
Neither party sees a significant enhance in popularity
Both parties have portrayed the shutdown as a prelude to the 2026 midterm elections, with Democrats aiming to swing the House vote. So far, however, there appears to have been no significant change in opinion about either party.
About three in 10 U.S. adults have a “somewhat” or “very” favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, according to a September AP-NORC poll. Four in 10 have a “somewhat” or “very” favorable opinion of the Republican Party, similar to last month.
Meanwhile, trust in Congress remains extremely low. Only about 4% of Americans say they have “a great deal” of confidence in the way Congress is run, while 43% have “only some” confidence and about half have “hardly any” confidence.
However, the poll suggests that health care could be a helpful issue for Democrats in the future. The poll found that 38% of Americans trust Democrats to do a better job on health care, while just 25% trust Republicans more. About one in 10 respondents trust both equally and 25% trust neither.
Rob Redding, a 49-year-old independent voter from New York, supports expanding ACA subsidies and praises Democrats for defending them.
Redding said Democrats’ insistence on the ACA subsidies was probably one of the bravest and bravest things he’s ever seen them do.
“And,” Redding said, “I think it’s the right decision.”
___
The AP-NORC poll of 1,289 adults was conducted Oct. 9-13. A sample was used from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is intended to be representative of the US population. The overall sampling error rate for adults is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the federal government shutdown at https://apnews.com/hub/Government-shutdown.
