The latest Economist/YouGov poll finished interviews on Monday morning, before the Senate finalized a deal to end the government shutdown. The poll found that before the Senate passed the measure, a growing share of Americans were saying they were being affected by the shutdown, and similar shares blamed congressional Democrats and Republicans for its occurrence. A subsequent YouGov poll — which ran after the deal was reached but before it passed — found that slightly more Americans approve than disapprove of the deal, and more believe it benefits Republicans more than Democrats than say the reverse.
- Before the measure passed by the Senate to end the shutdown, 39% of Americans said they were personally being affected a great deal or somewhat by the shutdown — a high since we began asking at the start of the shutdown
- Americans are about as likely to say that congressional Republicans are most responsible for the shutdown as they are to say congressional Democrats are (36% vs. 34%); 24% say the two groups are equally responsible
- Roughly equal shares of Americans say that Democrats in Congress should have and should not have held out for changes to health care funding — such as extending subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage — before agreeing to end the government shutdown (41% vs. 39%)
- Three weeks earlier, more Americans said Democrats should than should not hold out for health care funding (45% vs. 32%)
- Another YouGov poll conducted Monday — after the Senate reached the agreement to fund the government and end the shutdown but before the measure passed — found that more Americans strongly or somewhat approve of the deal than disapprove of it (37% vs. 29%); 34% said they weren't sure
- Republicans approve of the shutdown deal by 56% to 11%. Nearly half (47%) of Democrats disapprove and 31% approve
- The poll that ran after the post-shutdown deal also found that Republicans in Congress are seen as benefitting more from the deal than Democrats are (38% say Republicans benefit more and 9% say Democrats do); 20% believe Republicans and Democrats benefit equally from it
- Democrats are far more likely to see Republicans in Congress as the winners of the shutdown deal than to see Democrats in Congress that way (52% vs. 10%). Republicans also are more likely to see it as benefitting Republicans more, but by a smaller margin (29% vs. 12%)
Learn more about this poll here.
Image: Getty
