According to an official post from the White House, citing a Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll, 2,413 registered voters expressed widespread frustration with the Democrats and the government shutdown. This poll found that eighty percent oppose it, favoring a GOP “clean” continuing resolution to maintain current spending through November 21 without extending free healthcare to illegal aliens.
For context, 65 percent of voters want Democrats to accept the GOP deal. Additionally, 62 percent of voters predict a GOP victory. Likewise, the poll found that Congressional approval plummeted to 32 percent, down five points.
In any case, Whitehouse Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took to X, formerly Twitter, to break down the data. “NEW POLL: Americans Want Democrats to END Their Shutdown 70% oppose the government shutdown. 65% say Democrats should accept Republicans’ clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution. 55% say Democrats are just trying to please their base,'” she posted.
She also linked to an official White House article, which read, “Most Americans want Democrats to end their disastrous government shutdown, according to a new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll. It comes as service members and federal employees are set to miss their next paycheck, critical food assistance for low-income women and children is in dire jeopardy, states are staring down an economic catastrophe, and layoffs could be imminent — all because of Democrats’ sick push to give illegal aliens free health care.”
As we reported, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) urged OMB Director Russ Vought to slash over $2 trillion in federal waste during the “Schumer Shutdown.” Ernst, who serves as the Senate DOGE Caucus chair, called it a “golden opportunity” to address fraud and inefficiency amid a total debt of $37 trillion.
In any case, the Iowa Republican said, “I heard @russvought was looking for waste to cut during the Schumer Shutdown. Here is a list of non-essential government expenditures that would save taxpayers more than $2 trillion.”
Building on this point, she wrote a lengthy letter on the massive opportunity posed by the shutdown. “Dear Director Vought, As Chair and founder of the Senate DOGE Caucus, I think you’ll agree it’s critical Washington become more transparent, accountable, and efficient. Eliminating wasteful federal spending remains my top priority.”
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Still not done, she added, “While Senator Schumer, House Minority Leader Jeffries and Congressional Democrats have decided shutting down the federal government over pipe-dream political priorities is productive, in practice, they are providing the Trump administration an amazing opportunity to save taxpayers from footing a $400 million daily bill by eliminating ‘non-essential’ federal workers, trimming wasteful federal programs, and taking critical steps in curtailing Washington’s out-of-control spending that put our nation $37 trillion in debt.”
Pivoting to shocking examples of waste, the senator provided context. “There’s no better symbol of Washington’s wasteful spending than paying non-essential bureaucrats $400 million a day not to work. As of today, the bill to provide ‘do nothing pay’ for federal employees furloughed by Schumer’s shutdown is $1.2 billion,” Ernst wrote.
Concluding her comments, she encouraged the OMB to strike while the iron was hot, saying, “As you examine our federal spending and programs during this shutdown, here are more than a trillion dollars worth of ideas ripe for a trim.”