Poll: 55 Percent Prefer Shutdown Over Spending Increase

Fifty-five percent of likely voters would rather have a partial government shutdown until Congress can agree to either cut spending or keep it the same, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey released on Monday.

Just 31 percent would rather avoid a partial shutdown by authorizing more spending, while 14 percent are not sure.

On Friday night, the government shut down for more than five hours before Congress agreed upon a spending bill to keep the government running that increased spending.

In December, 55 percent opposed a government shutdown over congressional disagreements on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Other results of the latest survey include:

• Forty-three percent said that, generally speaking, increases in government spending hurt the economy, while 26 percent said they help, 17 percent said they have no impact and 14 percent are not sure.
• Most Republicans (62 percent) and independents (60 percent) would rather have a partial government shutdown until Congress can agree not to raise spending, compared to 45 percent of Democrats. Nearly as many Democrats (39 percent) would rather avoid a shutdown by increasing spending.
• Sixty-three percent of voters who strongly approve of President Donald Trump prefer a partial shutdown until Congress can agree on a plan to not raise spending, while just 46 percent of those who strongly disapprove of the president agree.
• Fifty-six percent of all voters said that thoughtful spending cuts should be considered in every program of the federal government.

The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted on Feb. 7-8. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points, with a 95 percent level of confidence.

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