For the first time in seven years, the U.S. government has shut down, leaving thousands of federal workers furloughed and putting public services on pause. Now, comes the blame game.

Republican lawmakers have faulted Democrats for failing to approve a GOP-backed ”clean” spending bill by the Oct. 1 funding deadline.

“House Republicans passed the SAME clean, nonpartisan CR that Chuck Schumer himself voted for back in March — and called “the right thing to do,” House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “The ONLY thing that’s changed since then is pressure from his base to close down the government. That’s not leadership, it’s cowardice.”

Meanwhile, Democrats have pointed fingers at Republicans for their unwillingness to make concessions on health care subsidies.

“Republicans JUST VOTED DOWN our bill to avoid a government shutdown at midnight and address the healthcare needs of the American people,” Schumer, the Senate minority leader, wrote in his own post. “Republicans are plunging us into a government shutdown rather than fixing their healthcare crisis.”

But who do Americans hold responsible for the shutdown?

According to three recent polls, slightly more blame the Republican Party, which controls both chambers of Congress and the White House.

A recent Marist University poll asked respondents: “If there is a government shutdown at some point this year, which party do you think would be more to blame?”

A plurality, 38%, said Republicans would be at fault, while 27% said Democrats and 31% said both parties would be equally to blame. Just 4% said neither.

When broken down by partisan affiliation, the results revealed a major divide.

Most Republicans, 56%, pointed fingers at Democrats, while 66% of Democrats said the GOP would shoulder responsibility for a government shutdown. A plurality of independents, 41%, said both parties were equally at fault.

The survey, conducted Sept. 22-26, sampled 1,477 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

A recent YouGov survey revealed similar findings.

A plurality of respondents, 33%, said they would blame Republicans “if a government shutdown does happen in the next few weeks,” while 27% said they would hold Democrats responsible. Thirty-one percent said both parties would be at fault, and 9% said they were not sure.

Here, again, there was a huge partisan split.

Most Democrats, 62%, said they would cast blame on the GOP, while 57% of Republicans said they would charge Democrats with responsibility. A 37% plurality of independents said both parties would be equally at fault.

The survey was conducted Sept. 26-29 with 1,656 U.S. adults. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

A New York Times/Siena College poll echoed these findings.

The survey asked respondents: “Who would you blame more if there is a shutdown of the federal government at the end of the month, the Democrats in Congress, (President) Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress or both equally?”

Twenty-six percent said they’d fault Trump and congressional Republicans, while 19% said they’d pin blame on Democratic lawmakers. A plurality, 33%, said they’d blame both parties, and 21% said they did not know.

The poll sampled 1,313 registered voters Sept. 22-27 and has a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points among likely voters.

©2025 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.