A new poll released Thursday from Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos reveals that most Americans surveyed blamed President Donald Trump and the Republican Party for shutting down the federal government despite the right’s attempt to cast blame on the Democrats.
According to the poll, Republicans take the blame by a margin of 45% to 33%, with 22% undecided. Republicans come out as the losers in the survey among Democrats and independent voters who were asked, but even among Republicans 11% blame their own party.
In an appearance on Fox News on Friday, Speaker Mike Johnson chose to create his own reality and slammed the poll.
“I’m not buying that poll. There’s a lot of others … saying Republicans are winning and we’re winning over Independents and even Democrats. … It’s very clear where the blame lies,” he said.
A recent poll from Navigator Research released earlier in the week showed similar results, with 41% blaming Republicans for the shutdown and only 29% pointing the finger at Democrats.
The bad news for Republicans comes as over 40 million people are on the verge of losing vital food assistance from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Congressional Republicans led by Johnson have expressed their support for the Trump administration’s refusal to dip into emergency funds to pay for food benefits for poor families.
“Same time tomorrow?” by Mike Luckovich
Democrats have been pushing for the government to tap into the funds, as has been done during past shutdowns, to avoid a starvation crisis. The administration is being sued by a coalition of attorneys general from 25 states and Washington to release the money, which they allege is being illegally withheld.
Along with increasing hunger, the shutdown’s effects are projected to ripple through an already-shaky economy being rocked by Trump’s disastrous tariff policies. The Congressional Budget Office has already projected a $7 billion hit to the economy thanks to the shutdown, and as it stretches on the impact will be worse.
Companies relying on spending from federal contracts and federal workers are losing revenue, and the companies involved along the line are being hurt as well.
Then there are other effects being felt, like dysfunction within the National Park System that hurts the communities connected to those parks.
As these problems spiral out of control, Trump has focused on other issues—demolishing the White House to build a golden ballroom and deploying federal officers to American cities to harass and abuse migrant families.
These polls show Republicans have a mess on their hands of their own making.
