A new poll finds that just 6 percent of registered voters say that the partial government shutdown has affected them “a lot,” which gives us a good idea of why it’s been dragging on for so long.
The new Morning Consult/POLITICO poll finds that the largest number of voters, 40 percent, say the shutdown has “not at all” affected them or their families, and 26 percent say there hasn’t been much impact. Another 19 percent say they’ve seen only “some” impact.
The data suggest that even though voters broadly place more blame on President Trump for the shutdown, there’s no particular sense of urgency to resolve it.
[Opinion: I’m working without pay; here’s my view of the government shutdown]
Right now, each party’s base pretty much agrees with their side’s position, so from a political perspective, there’s still no incentive to compromise. At the same time, lawmakers aren’t feeling much pressure from voters to resolve the issue because the overwhelming majority of the population is unaffected.
As I noted last week, for the current dynamic to change, you’d have to have a scenario in which something like widespread sick-outs from unpaid Transportation and Security Administration workers led to major chaos at airports, leading disgruntled travelers to lash out at politicians. But so far, the strain on airports has been manageable and has not yet manifested itself in massive security lines or delays.
If you’re wondering how this issue gets resolved, the answer is: when it starts affecting more people.
