Slightly more voters blame Trump, GOP for lack of stimulus deal, survey finds

Voters blame President Trump and congressional Republicans slightly more than their Democratic counterparts over the inability of Washington to reach a deal on a coronavirus relief package before Election Day, according to a new survey.

In the Morning Consult poll released Wednesday, 45 percent of voters said they chiefly blame Trump and Republicans in Congress for the stimulus impasse, while 40 percent said they blame congressional Democrats. Fifteen percent said they were unsure or had no opinion.

Independent voters pointed the finger at Republicans over Democrats by a 9-point margin, 43 percent to 34 percent.

Republicans in Congress faced more blame than the president in the poll when voters were given the option to choose between the two. Twenty-five percent of those surveyed blamed congressional Republicans, while 19 percent said that Trump was directly at fault for talks collapsing.

The poll’s results come as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sent a letter to colleagues Tuesday that they should not expect a stimulus package before the elections, writing: “From ‘hoax’ to hundreds of thousands dead, the White House has failed miserably — not by accident, but by decision.”

“The President’s words only have meaning if he can get [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell to take his hand off the pause button,” she added.

The Morning Consult poll was conducted Oct. 23-25, with two samples of 1,067 voters and 923 voters; each sample had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.