The party in power gets blamed for a government shutdown

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Opinion surveys conducted after the shutdown began to show wide dissatisfaction with the performance of government leaders, especially with members of Congress. More Americans blamed congressional Republicans for the shutdown than blamed congressional Democrats or the President.

In a Fox News poll conducted during the first two days of the shutdown, 42% of registered voters blamed Republicans for the shutdown (17% blamed 'Republican leaders' and 25% blamed 'Tea Party Republicans such as Ted Cruz'); while 32% blamed Democrats (24% blamed 'President Obama' and 8% blamed 'Democratic leaders'). The rest, 20%, said all sides were to blame.[217]

A Gallup poll conducted during the first week of the shutdown found that the percentage of Americans with a favorable opinion of the Republican Party had fallen to the lowest level for either party since Gallup began measuring party favorability in 1992, with only 28% of Americans saying they now had a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, down 10 points from September, before the shutdown. The Democratic Party had a 43% favorable rating, down 4 points from the previous month. President Obama's job approval was at 44%, about the same as when the shutdown began.[218] The same poll found a near all-time low approval rating of Congress at only 11%, a drop from 19% in September.[219]

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