Survey: Americans Starting to See Government Shutdown’s Impact

A new survey conducted by the Washington-based nonprofit Partnership for Public Service finds that close to half of Americans say they are already noticing the impacts of the federal government shutdown.

The survey of 1,096 Americans, conducted between Oct. 9 and Oct. 13, also saw growing concern over federal workers potentially losing their jobs as a result of the ongoing closure.

Overall, 48% of respondents said the shutdown has affected people in their community. These concerns “cut across political party lines,” according to the Partnership, which found 69% of Democrats, 38% of independents and 27% of Republicans saying they’ve observed the shutdown’s impact.

In addition, the survey indicates “widespread apprehension among the public about how large-scale federal workforce cuts could affect both individual households and broader community well-being.” For example, 49% of survey participants said they would be worried about the impact on their communities “if there are a lot of firings of federal employees during the shutdown,” according to the Partnership.

“Our government employs over 2 million people in communities nationwide to deliver services that touch everything from public health and food safety to air travel and economic development, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone to see just how much of a burden the public is carrying from this completely avoidable shutdown,” said Max Stier, Partnership for Public Service president and CEO, in a statement.

“Even more alarming is that the worst effects for the public are yet to come as the Trump administration pursues additional RIFs and funding cuts,” Stier added, “in an extremely misguided attempt to use civil servants and government resources as hostages and leverage.”