Despite GOP Efforts to Blast Dems, Americans Blame Republicans for #TrumpShutdown

Despite efforts by President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers to blame Democrats for the government shutdown--deemed the #TrumpShutdown by critics--polling shows American voters hold Republicans and the president responsible for failing to reach an agreement on Friday to keep the federal government funded.

The Politico/Morning Consult poll (pdf) released Sunday, which showed that more American voters blame Republicans than Democrats, echoed results from a Washington Post/ABC poll published Friday. The Politico poll found that nearly two-thirds of U.S. voters support shutting down the government over disagreements about long-term funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which expired at the end of September.

Meanwhile, although 84 percent (pdf) of voters support Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)--which the Trump administration terminated last year but a federal judge recently reinstated--voters are split over whether the DACA debate warrants a shutdown. Republicans have been criticized for their numerous attempts to use DACA recipients, or Dreamers, as "bargaining chips" to implement tougher immigration enforcement measures.

Ahead of a Senate vote scheduled for around noon on Monday, advocates for Dreamers and CHIP urged lawmakers to pass a "bipartisan solution," and pushed Democrats to resist a deal that doesn't address DACA with the hashtag #NoDACANoDeal.

The polling results come as critics of the shutdown held protests throughout the weekend, and amid efforts by GOP lawmakers and the president to point fingers at Democrats in Congress. On Monday, the White House unveiled a new automated message on its telephone comment line, accusing congressional Democrats of "holding government funding, including funding for our troops and other national security priorities, hostage to an unrelated immigration debate."

The inflammatory message came on the heels of a "provocative new ad" released by the Trump reelection campaign that accused Democrats of being "complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants." The ad was strongly condemned by immigrant rights advocates, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who said on CNN, "It is really unbelievable and so sad for our country that we have a president of the United States who says such nonsense and such outrageous statements," and noted an "overwhelming" majority of Americans support keeping protections for Dreamers.