Fact check: Was it the democrats or republicans to blame for keeping the government shut down?

1. Who Americans Blame — The Polling Picture That Grabs Headlines

A recent AP‑NORC poll indicates a plurality of Americans assign primary responsibility to President Trump and congressional Republicans, with roughly six in ten saying Republicans have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of responsibility, while a narrower majority holds Democrats responsible as well ^[1]. This majority‑but‑uneven attribution has been reinforced by subsequent reporting showing that the public’s initial advantage for Democrats on the issue is eroding as the shutdown continues, suggesting blame is not fixed and public opinion shifts with perceived efforts to resolve the stalemate ^[2]. The polling dates—mid‑October 2025 through Oct. 27, 2025—capture a dynamic window of opinion as the shutdown extends ^{[1] [2]}.

2. The Root Cause: Budget Fight, Not A Single Party’s Error

Analysts agree the shutdown stems from a failure to pass a continuing resolution amid partisan disagreement over budget priorities, not merely a single misstep by one party ^{[4] [5]}. Reporting and policy summaries describe competing demands in Congress that prevented a timely funding vote, producing a classic appropriations lapse. The shutdown’s proximate cause is legislative gridlock; the deeper cause is the parties’ strategic choices about concessions and leverage. That means responsibility is shared institutionally even if voters assign more blame to one party politically ^[5].

3. How the Shutdown Hurts Americans — Tangible Impacts Amplify Political Costs

The shutdown’s effects on federal workers, travel, research, and assistance programs are documented in contemporaneous reporting and CBO analysis: air traffic control, national parks, food assistance, and federal staff pay are disrupted, and economic impacts grow with duration ^{[6] [3]}. The Congressional Budget Office emphasized the shutdown’s likely negative effects on real GDP and labor markets, while news accounts outline immediate service interruptions and hardship for families and contractors. These concrete harms increase public frustration and shift political calculations, which in turn influences the evolving blame assignment seen in polls ^{[6] [3]}.

4. Senate Compromise Efforts — Bipartisan Faces, Limited Progress

A number of senators, including Ron Johnson (R‑Wis.) and Chris Van Hollen (D‑Md.), proposed legislative solutions to pay federal employees and troops during the lapse, signaling some capacity for cross‑aisle compromise, but the Senate failed to advance these plans ^{[7] [8]}. That failure to enact mitigations has political consequences: negotiators can point to the other side’s resistance when assigning blame, yet the inability to pass even narrow, targeted measures underscores how procedural dynamics and intra‑party pressures constrain agreement ^{[7] [8]}.

5. Democratic Calls for Negotiation — Messaging and Responsibility Claims

Senate Democrats, including Dick Durbin (D‑Ill.), framed the path out as renewed negotiations, urging Republicans to resume talks and portraying GOP obstruction as a choice ^[9]. This framing is politically strategic: it casts Democrats as willing to bargain while highlighting perceived Republican unwillingness. Yet contemporaneous reporting also notes Democratic responsibility for certain policy insistences, and polls show that as disruptions mount, voters increasingly view both parties as culpable, complicating simple narratives of one‑side blame ^{[2] [9]}.

6. Media and Political Agendas — Why Sources Tell Different Stories

Media reports and partisan strategists agree the shutdown is a liability for both parties, but their emphasis varies: some coverage foregrounds polling showing Republican blame, while others stress bipartisan fault or focus on negotiation breakdowns ^[2]. Political operatives use selective facts to craft narratives — Republicans highlight Democratic policy demands; Democrats stress presidential and GOP leadership failures. Because each source has incentives to frame responsibility differently, cross‑referencing polls, legislative votes, and economic reports is essential to avoid one‑sided conclusions ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

7. The Big Picture — Shared Institutional Failure With Asymmetric Political Costs

Synthesizing polls, reporting, and CBO analysis shows the shutdown is fundamentally a product of institutional stalemate with shared legislative responsibility, even as short‑term public blame has leaned more toward Republicans in October 2025 ^{[1] [3]}. Political advantage is fluid: initial Democratic benefits in fault‑assignment were waning by Oct. 27, 2025, as the shutdown persisted and both parties absorbed voter frustration. Evaluating blame therefore requires separating legal and procedural responsibility from political accountability as reflected in up‑to‑date polling ^{[2] [1]}.

8. Bottom Line For Accountability — What the Record Shows and What It Leaves Out

The contemporaneous record shows voters blame Republicans more often, but legislative records, failed compromise attempts, and CBO economic warnings indicate both parties contributed to the outcome, with the scale and duration of harm shaping public judgment ^{[1] [8] [3]}. Missing from many accounts are granular votes, intra‑party dissents, and executive‑branch choices about which functions to continue — details that would further clarify responsibility. For now, the most defensible conclusion is that institutional gridlock produced the shutdown and political blame has skewed toward Republicans in polls conducted in October 2025 ^{[1] [2] [3]}.