Poll: Most Americans Would Blame Trump, GOP For Government Shutdown

A new national poll finds most Americans will blame President Donald Trump and the Republican Party should the government shut down over a lack of funding.

With just three days remaining before the government is scheduled to shutter, a new Hart Research Associates poll found that “even before hearing any specific policy disagreements,” 42 percent of Americans see Trump and the GOP as being at fault, while just 31 percent of respondents think the blame should rest with Democrats.

The 11-point advantage in favor of Democrats comes despite Trump firing off several tweets where he directly points the finger of blame across the aisle.

“The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all and Border Security,” Trump opined in one post. “The biggest loser will be our rapidly rebuilding Military, at a time we need it more than ever. We need a merit based system of immigration, and we need it now! No more dangerous Lottery.”

Most voters appear to have a different view. Among independent and undecided voters, the margin for which party would shoulder the most blame is even greater, with independents blaming Republicans by a 16-point margin and those who self-identify as undecided voters going into the 2018 midterms blaming the GOP over Democrats by a 19-point margin.

The poll was conducted over senate battleground states Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

With the midterms roughly just eight-months away, Republicans had hoped to spend the early part of 2018 touting Trump’s signature tax bill as being among their greatest accomplishments.

Democrats, meanwhile, are likely to point to a shutdown as further evidence of the stagnation their rivals have brought to Washington, despite being in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.

All the dysfunction appears to be taking a heavy toll on Trump and his presidency.

A new Quinnipiac University poll recently found his approval ratings now stand at just 36 percent and well over half of all voters give him a poor or failing grade for his first-year in the White House.

Pollsters also found 39 percent of voters gave Trump a failing grade of “F,” while another 17 percent give him just a “D” grade.

By comparison, only 33 percent of voters give him a “C” grade or better.

Overall, 59 percent of all respondents disapprove of the job Trump has done during his first-year in the Oval Office, “a record for an American president at this point,” noted Quinnipiac chief pollster Tim Malloy.

When challenged to reveal the first word that comes to mind in describing Trump’s first-year in office, the words “disaster,” chaotic,” “horrible,” and “embarrassing” were among those most frequently used.