House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) predicted this week that Republicans would ultimately “cave” to Democrat demands in the ongoing government shutdown, citing “public sentiment” as the driving force. His remarks, however, come as polling shows most Americans blame Democrats for forcing the shutdown over healthcare for illegal immigrants.
When pressed by reporters on why he believed Republicans would give in, Jeffries said, “Public sentiment. At the end of the day, the public knows that Donald Trump and Republicans have shut the federal government down.” He accused the GOP of creating “chaos and cruelty,” while claiming Democrats were only trying to protect healthcare access for Americans.
Jeffries insisted Democrats are focused on “canceling the cuts, lowering the costs, and saving health care,” absolving his caucus of responsibility despite refusing to support the Republican-led clean continuing resolution to keep the government open.
Yet polling tells a different story. A New York Times/Siena survey found 65 percent of Americans opposed Democrats shutting down the government, while just 27 percent supported the move. Even among Democrats themselves, support for a shutdown was weak, with less than half backing the strategy. A majority of independents, along with an overwhelming 92 percent of Republicans, said Democrats should not shut the government down.
Republicans have repeatedly stressed that nearly all of their members voted to keep the government open. Vice President JD Vance underscored this point, saying, “Nearly every single House Republican voted to open the government. Nearly every single Senate Republican voted to open the government. That’s not a Republican shutdown when nearly every single Senate Democrat votes to shut it down.”
Despite Jeffries’ claims, the political fallout suggests Democrats are shouldering most of the blame as the shutdown drags on.
