Almost 2 in 3 want Congress to compromise on budget to avoid shutdown: survey

Almost two in three Americans want Congress to compromise on a federal budget and avoid a government shutdown, according to a new survey.

The poll, conducted by Monmouth University, found that 64 percent of the public want Congress to “represent their own views on spending priorities to compromise on those principles” to avoid a shutdown at the end of the week.

The government will shut down Oct. 1 without a new funding mechanism.

“The vast majority of Americans want to avoid a shutdown,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, in a statement. “The faction who does not want any compromise may represent a small portion of the public, but they hold outsized influence in the U.S. Capitol.”

Republicans were more likely than independents and Democrats to say that members should stick with their spending principles, regardless of whether it will lead to a shutdown. More than half of self-described ideological “conservatives” — 52 percent — said they want representatives to stick to their principles, compared to 26 percent of “liberal Democrats.”

Only 17 percent of respondents approve of the job Congress is doing and 74 percent disapprove, the survey found. Most of the public, 68 percent, said the country is going in the wrong direction, while 17 percent said it is on the right track.

The survey found that respondents think no one, including President Biden or the Democrats and Republicans in Congress, is seen as looking out for the economic well-being of average Americans.

Of Democratic respondents, 49 percent said they think their party has members concerned about their economic well-being. Only 30 percent of Republicans say their party’s representatives are concerned about the economic well-being of Americans.

“Nobody in Washington seems to be looking out for Middle America,” Murray said in a statement. “But it’s interesting that Republicans are less positive than Democrats about their own party’s leadership on this score.”

The poll was conducted from Sept. 19-24 with a random sample of 814 adults over the phone and via text message. Monmouth University Polling Institute said the margin of error is 4.3 percentage points.