Why this isn't 1995: 58 percent favor government shutdown today

February 28, 2011 -- 10:51 AM
Mon, 2011-02-28 10:51

This definitely flies in the face of the common wisdom:

As Republicans and Democrats in Congress haggle over the budget, most voters would rather have a partial shutdown of the federal government than keep its spending at current levels.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 33% of Likely U.S. Voters would rather have Congress avoid a government shutdown by authorizing spending at the same levels as last year. Fifty-eight percent (58%) says it’s better to have a partial shutdown until Democrats and Republicans can agree on what spending to cut.

Incredibly, respondents appear to be more concerned about fixing the budget than they are about any possible economic effects of a shutdown:

A plurality (48%) of all voters believe that a partial government shutdown would be bad for the economy. Twenty-five percent (25%) say a shutdown would be good for the country economically, while 15% say it would have no impact.