Why Americans Blame Republicans For The Government Shutdown

Oct 6, 2025

Mary Radcliffe, a political commentator specializing in Pennsylvania, and Lenny Brawner, a senior data scientist at The Washington Post, dive into the dynamics behind the government shutdown. They discuss polling data revealing that Americans blame Republicans more than Democrats, influencing compromise strategies. The duo explores how question wording impacts survey results and the historical patterns of blame. They also analyze the latest New York Times poll findings, highlighting the stark gender gap in approval ratings and the implications for political strategies.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Public Blame Favors Democrats

Polling shows a consistent pattern: more Americans blame Republicans than Democrats for the shutdown.
That blame distribution reduces pressure on Democrats to concede in negotiations.

INSIGHT

History Shapes Who Gets Blamed

Voters often assume Republicans cause shutdowns because historically they have.
Low-information respondents default to historical patterns rather than policy details.

INSIGHT

Power Equals Responsibility Perception

Control of government levers leads voters to blame the party in power for dysfunction.
Trump's public threats to withhold funds amplify perceptions that Republicans run the shutdown.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

We are currently offering our first-ever discount on paid subscriptions. Right now, an annual subscription is 20% off, meaning you’ll become a paid subscriber for just $5/month. Paid subscribers get access to a second weekly podcast, including recordings of live shows like our upcoming live show on November 3rd.

The government has now been shut down for 6 days and there’s no clear end in sight, let alone any palpable urgency to reach that end. During past government shutdowns, there has at least been the sense that lawmakers are earnestly trying to find a path forward. Why not this time? Perhaps we need not look any further than the polls.

The bulk of polling suggests Americans blame Republicans more than Democrats for the shutdown, so Democrats aren’t feeling pressure to fold. Historical polling also suggests that the party making the demands that provoke the shutdown – in this case Democrats – are eventually seen as responsible and fold after achieving little to no policy concessions. Given that, Republicans probably aren’t feeling the pressure to compromise either.

Today we dig deeper into those surveys and try to get a sense of where things might go from here. We also focus on a couple other polls that have attracted attention recently. (Yes, it’s a polling heavy day, so grab that calculator and put on those stats nerd glasses. I promise it will be fun 🤓)

The New York Times released its first national poll since April, following months of newsworthy developments and political rancor, resulting in… wait for it… no discernible change in how Americans view Trump and Democrats.

There’s also a new poll out of Pennsylvania showing that Democratic Senator John Fetterman is a relatively popular figure in the state. Just one important footnote: he is 20 points underwater with his own party’s voters and 40 points above water with Republicans. So is his approach a roadmap for other Democrats to win over Republican voters or a one way ticket to a primary challenge and an ouster from Washington?

With me to discuss it all are friends of the podcast Mary Radcliffe and Lenny Bronner.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.gdpolitics.com/subscribe