Americans are more likely to blame Republicans than Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown, but a New YouGov/The Economist poll Shows that the gap is starting to narrow.
Only 6 points separate the parties in this week’s poll, which shows that 39 percent of Americans surveyed blame President Trump and Republicans in Congress for the shutdown, while 33 percent blame Democrats in Congress.
last week11 points separated the two parties, with 41 percent of respondents blaming Trump and the GOP in Congress and 30 percent blaming their Democratic counterparts.
In the latest survey, 20 percent of respondents say they blame both sides equally – down from 23 percent last week.
The change in polling figures comes as the government is about to enter its third week of shutdown, and the standoff between the two parties shows no signs of slowing down soon.
Democrats are pushing to address increased Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year, which will raise insurance premiums for millions of Americans. Meanwhile, Republicans say they will not negotiate on health care subsidies unless Democrats support their proposal to reopen the government.
The pressure on the GOP has increased a bit this week, as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) went public with her criticism Party leadership and its failure to find a solution to potential increases in health care premiums.
But as the shutdown drags on, independent voters appear to be narrowing the gap on which party deserves more blame for the ongoing shutdown.
In the latest poll, 26 percent of independent voters blamed Democrats for the shutdown — up from 17 percent last week.
Blame for Trump and Republicans also declined slightly: from 41 percent last week to 38 percent this week. And independents who blame both parties equally fell from 32 percent last week to 27 percent this week.
The survey was conducted from October 10 to 13 and included 1,622 respondents. The margin of error is about 3.5 percentage points.
