The poll found 39% of Americans blamed Trump and Republicans in Congress for the shutdown, while 33% blamed Democrats in Congress. Another 20% blamed both Democrats and Republicans equally, while 8% said they were not sure.
The poll echoes other recent surveys that also found that more Americans blame Republicans and Trump for the shutdown rather than Democrats.
The poll also found Americans widely disapproved of Trump and lawmakers in Congress when it came to how they were handling the shutdown. Fifty-three percent of Americans disapproved of Trump’s handling of the shutdown, 53% disapproved of congressional Republicans’ handling of the issue and 52% approved of Democrats’ handling of it.
Most Americans in the poll said they were not strongly affected by the shutdown. Just 7% said they were affected a “great deal” by the shutdown, 14% said they were “somewhat” affected, 25% said they were “a little” affected and 54% said they were not affected at all.
More results from the same poll at https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/53161-government-shutdown-donald-trump-approval-ice-immigration-economy-doj-justice-department-conversion-therapy-october-10-13-2025-economist-yougov-poll (arc)
The next substantial point that will affect the administration is going to be the midterm elections, and what happens with control of the House of Representatives. Right now, there’s a Republican trifecta in place. If the Democratic Party gets control of the House, they get a substantial check on the Executive Branch. Midterms are still a year away, but it’s close enough that things that affect public views do matter.
Presidential popularity tends to affect midterm voting patterns.
EDIT: And to be fair, yes, it is still early. What’s happening in, say, nine months will probably matter more, pound-for-pound, due to proximity to the election. But, on the other hand, a year isn’t that long, either, and what happens will have some impact.
If you look at the polling for the UK general elections, what’s going on is rather eye-opening:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election
Political movement does matter, because when you get right up to the elections, there’s already inertia to the situation.
I look at all the insane shit that has happened in just over 9 months and think about what things could still happen in the 13 months before the midterm elections. I don’t have much hope that political momentum is going to matter.
Also, polling doesn’t mean everything, especially not this far away. Trump was losing the polls in two of his three elections. He won both of those times.
Their point is that the midterm elections either won’t happen because Trump declares martial law, or they’re going to be rigged like the presidential election was.
I maintain that popular opinion will find a way to express itself, whether that’s through free and fair elections or some less orderly way