Nearly half of Americans are already noticing impacts from the federal government shutdown, according to results from a new, nationally representative poll conducted by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Partnership for Public Service.
The poll – which was conducted from Oct. 9 to 13 – revealed that 48% of Americans say the shutdown has impacted people in their community.
The Partnership for Public Service said these concerns span political party lines, with 69% of Democrats, 38% of independents, and 27% of Republicans reporting local impacts.
The survey also highlights widespread unease about how large-scale federal workforce cuts could ripple through communities. Nearly half of respondents (49%) say they would be worried about the impact on their communities “if there are a lot of firings of federal employees during the shutdown.”
Notably, the Trump administration has threatened to permanently cut employees if the shutdown continues, and has already moved to lay off more than 4,000 employees across eight agencies, according to court documents.
Ultimately, a federal judge temporarily blocked those layoffs, saying that they are likely illegal and politically motivated.
“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,” Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, said in a press release.
“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 in an extremely misguided attempt to use civil servants and government resources as hostages and leverage,” Stier added.
The poll results come from a nationally representative survey of 1,096 adults, conducted by the Partnership for Public Service through the AmeriSpeak omnibus survey, a probability panel created by NORC at the University of Chicago.