By Dave Workman
A surprising new survey released by the veteran polling firm Rasmussen shows a slight majority of likely voters—including two-thirds of Democrats—favor a continuation of the current government shutdown.
Of those responding to the poll, 83 percent say they have been “closely following” news reports about the shutdown. This includes 48 percent who are following the news “very closely,” Rasmussen said.
The survey involved 1,220 likely U.S. voters and was conducted Oct. 15-16, according to Rasmussen.
Despite the slight majority who want the shutdown to continue, Rasmussen also revealed that 81 percent of poll respondents want it to end “quickly,” and of those, 54 percent say ending the shutdown is “very important.”
Another revelation is that only 26 percent think Republicans should “agree to all the demands made by Democrats, and 34 percent believe GOP senators should agree to at least some of the Democrats’ demands.” In contrast, 33 percent do not want Republican senators to agree to any Democrat demands.
Rasmussen notes the partisan character of responses. The poll says 41 percent of Democrats think Republicans should accede to all Democrat demands, while 50 percent of Republican voters say GOP senators shouldn’t yield to any demands.
Among Independents, “19% think Republicans in the Senate should agree to all the demands made by Democrats, 36% say Republican senators should agree to some of the Democrats’ demands, and 33% believe Senate Republicans should not agree to any of the Democrats’ demands,” Rasmussen reported.
Another survey result notes, “Sixty-six percent (66%) of Democratic voters approve of continuing the shutdown, as do 41% of Republicans and 44% of voters not affiliated with either major party. Fifty-three percent (53%) of Republicans, 24% of Democrats and 47% of unaffiliated voters disapprove of letting the government shutdown continue.”
The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
Workman is editor-in-chief at TheGunMag.com.
