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Do you think President Trump is to blame for the shutdown?
- Absolutely
- Absolutely not
- Probably
- Probably not
- Not sure
With an estimated 800,000 federal workers - including approximately 114,000 in New York and several thousand more In Connecticut - without work for nearly five weeks, Americans appear to be souring on the shutdown. The shutdown began on Dec. 22 as politicians continue to haggle and debate about immigration reform and other issues.
The survey of 1,023 adults was conducted from Jan. 10th through Jan. 13th, by The Marist Poll sponsored in partnership with PBS NewsHour.
Adults 18 years of age and older living in the United States were contacted on landline or mobile numbers and interviewed by using live interviewers. Mobile telephone numbers were randomly selected based upon a list of telephone exchanges from throughout the nation from Survey Sampling International. The exchanges were selected to ensure that each region was represented in proportion to its population.
According to the poll, 70 percent of Americans think shutting down the government to reach policy consensus is a poor strategy. Just 22 percent believe it is a good one, while 7 percent said they were unsure.
Unsurprisingly, the poll found that 96 percent of Democrats, 72 percent of independents and 35 percent of Republicans find the strategy flawed. In the poll, 53 percent of white evangelical Christians and 30 percent of President Donald Trump’s base supporters from 2016 agree the shutdown isn’t working.
Of those who were polled, 54 percent - and 86 percent of Democrats - believe that the shutdown has been caused by Trump. However, 71 percent of Republicans are blaming congressional Democrats for the shutdown.
The shutdown continues to be a point of contention among politicians and area residents.
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who announced her intention to run for president in 2020 on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” this week, spoke about the shutdown during her spot on the show.
“We have 800,000 people who are not getting a paycheck. Families across America are worried about not making their rent and paying their mortgage,” they said. “People are worried about not having the money to heat their home, or buy food for their kids, or prescription medicine. What (Trump) has done is outrageous."
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont touched on the issue when announcing a partnership with area banks to help federal employees grind their way through the shutdown until they can receive back pay for the time they missed.
“Federal workers – regardless of their employment classification – are hurting while the federal government is shut down,” he said in a statement. “This is particularly true for those employees who must still report to work and incur the cost of commuting and other work-related costs without receiving a paycheck.
A complete rundown of the numbers from the brand new Marist poll can be found here. Do you think the president is to blame for the country's record shutdown? Vote in our poll above.
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