Enten turned to recent polls conducted by The New York Times/Siena College and Marist University, which found that registered voters indicated they’d blame Republican lawmakers in Congress for a shutdown more than Democrats by a margin of +7 percentage points and +12 percentage points, respectively.
Enten — citing an aggregate of polling from over the years — called the recent figures part of a “pretty familiar story” as more Americans blamed Republicans than Democrats at the start of the 1995-96, 2013 and 2018-19 shutdowns.
“So, this actually lines up with what we’ve seen historically… Which, again, is why the polling right now doesn’t exactly strike me as surprising,” he said, adding that Americans held steady in blaming the GOP by the end of those previous shutdowns as well.
“Right now, it’s Republicans who are being blamed at the start of this one. History ain’t exactly too kind to those who are blamed at the start of shutdowns,” Enten added.