ANALYSIS
More and more Americans blame Democrats for the government shutdown
A YouGov/The Economist poll reveals that weeks passing without a budget is hurting the Democratic Party. The trend is sharpening in the Hispanic population.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The Democratic Party may have to rethink the government shutdown. "Every day gets better for us," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said last Thursday, as the shutdown turned a week old. Two weeks in, a poll disproves this.
More and more Americans are blaming Democrats for the lack of a new budget to fund government activities, according to The Economist/YouGov. While last week 30% of American adults pointed to Democrats as responsible, this week the figure rose to 33%.
The week before that, before the shutdown began, the percentage blaming the Democratic Party for a possible shutdown was even lower: 27%. The trend seems to indicate that every day that passes without a budget bill the Democrats are increasingly responsible in the eyes of Americans.
The Republican Party is following a reverse trend. While it continues to be the party most citizens blame for the shutdown, they are holding it less and less accountable. If last week 41% of Americans blamed "Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress," this week it was 39%.
Among Hispanics, the trend is the same. In the first week of inactivity, 19% blamed the Democrats, while in the second the figure rose to 22%. With the GOP the opposite occurred: from 45% in the first it dropped to 41% in the second. The percentage of those accusing both parties equally (25% to 26%) and of those who do not know who to point the finger at (11% to 12%) also increased, albeit by a mere 1%.
The Democratic Party's intransigent stance is also in doubt. More Americans believe Democrats are "more likely to compromise" than Republicans. Thirty-one percent think the opposition will give in, while 20% think the same of the ruling party. In the Hispanic population, the trend is reinforced: 37% think that the Democrats will give in, while 19% say the same of the Republicans.
The poll results were released as Senate Democrats rejected for the eighth time the Republican bill to open the government. The Democratic Party has its own bill, which also failed to gain the support of the opposing caucus.
If the shutdown continues through Friday, it will become the second-longest in history by surpassing that of 2013. The record is held by the 2018 shutdown, which stretched 35 days during the first Donald Trump administration.
Do you support the layoffs?
Seventy-one percent of American adults argued that public employees who continue to work during the shutdown should be paid when it reopens, while 13% felt otherwise. A majority of Hispanics (74%) and Republicans (60%) are also in favor of the payouts.
On layoffs, opinion is more divided: 54% reject them, 29% support them. Among Hispanics, support is lower (26%), while support among Republicans is in the majority (54%).
LATEST
