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Nearly half of voters agree with a statement by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller: “Democrats shut down the government to give hundreds of billions of free healthcare to illegal aliens, including the millions of illegal aliens to whom [Joe] Biden [and the] Democrats gave illegal amnesty.”
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 49% of Likely U.S. voters agree with Miller on the reason for the current government shutdown. That includes 32% who Strongly Agree. Forty-four percent (44%) disagree, including 38% who Strongly Disagree with the quote from Miller.
The government shutdown began last week after Senate Democrats filibustered a funding bill that would have kept the government operating. Forty-four percent (44%) of voters say they have felt no impact from the shutdown in their own personal lives. Thirty-four percent (34%) have felt a minor impact from the shutdown and 17% say the shutdown has had a major impact on their personal lives.
Eighty-six percent (86%) of voters have been closely following news reports about the government shutdown, including 49% who say they’ve followed the news Very Closely. Among those who have followed news about the shutdown Very Closely, 52% agree with the quote from Miller.
Forty-one percent (41%) believe the Republican Party is most to blame for the government shutdown, while 37% think the Democrats are most to blame and 18% say both parties are about equally to blame for the government shutdown.
As might be expected, there is a lot of partisan finger-pointing on this question. Sixty-three percent (63%) of Democrats think Republicans are more to blame for the government shutdown, while 55% of Republicans believe Democrats are more to blame. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, slightly more blame Democrats (34%) than Republicans (31%) for the shutdown, but 29% say both parties are about equally to blame.
A solid majority (58%) of Republicans say they have felt no impact from the shutdown in their own personal lives, compared to 26% of Democrats and 46% of unaffiliated voters.
Seventy-six percent (76%) of Republicans, 28% of Democrats and 44% of unaffiliated voters at least somewhat agree with the Miller quote about Democrats shutting down the government to give free healthcare to illegal aliens.
Forty-nine percent (49%) of whites, 25% of black voters, 36% of Hispanics and 47% of other minorities have felt no impact from the shutdown in their own personal lives. Hispanics are most likely to blame Democrats for the shutdown.
By a four-point margin, men are more likely to blame Democrats (42%) than Republicans (38%) for the shutdown, while women voters blame Republicans more by an 11-point margin.
Breaking down the electorate by income categories, voters earning more than $100,000 a year are more likely to blame Republicans for the government shutdown.
Among those who voted for Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election, 60% say they/ve felt no impact in their personal lives from the government shutdown, while nearly two-thirds (65%) of Kamala Harris voters have felt either a minor impact (44%) or a major impact (21%) from the shutdown.
The survey of 1,162 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on October 2 and 5-6, 2025 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology. To see survey question wording, click here.
- government shutdown
- healthcare
- Big Beautiful Bill Act
- Trump administration
- budget reconciliation
- US economy
- Democrat favorability
- healthcare for illegal aliens
- national debt
- congressional office
- premium tax credits
- Affordable Care Act
- DACA
- Obamacare
- American Rescue Plan
- waste, fraud and abuse
- filibuster
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