A majority of Georgia swing voters surveyed in focus groups this week are blaming Democrats for the record-breaking 42-day government shutdown that ended Wednesday.
Seven of 13 Georgia focus group members who voted for former president Joe Biden in 2020 and switched to President Donald Trump in 2024 said that “Democrats came out of the shutdown looking worse than Republicans,” Axios reported, with many of those voters saying they don’t understand the reason for the shutdown.
Two of the 13 voters said the shutdown makes Republicans look worse, while 4 blamed both parties equally.
Democrats “always project to be a party of the people who they care about, the disenfranchised, the people who are in poverty,” Elijah T., 33, said. “But their actions contradict it, they don’t really care.”
“It was for what?” said Christine L., 54. “It really does make them look bad.”
Brian B., 61, laid the blame on beleaguered Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.), saying the duo “beat the heck out of this and wasted 41 days dragging their feet before eight Democrats finally decided enough is enough.”
The shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, ended Wednesday after eight members of the Democratic Senate Caucus switched positions and voted with Republicans to reopen the government. Progressive politicians and their media allies have lashed out at the insurgent senators, with several excoriating Schumer even though the minority leader voted against the funding bill.
“Cue the Dem civil war,” New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser wrote.
The focus group members’ reactions contradict claims that swing voters across the country are leaning toward Democrats in light of the party’s victories in off-year elections this month. “Midterms are never determined by these special elections,” one member of the focus groups told Axios, which noted that the wins occurred in states and cities such as Virginia, New Jersey, and New York, all of which lean Democratic.
Eight of the 13 focus group voters “said they still approve of the administration’s actions on balance since Trump’s return to office in January,” Axios reported.
While the focus groups had general recommendations for Republicans, such as “appealing more to the political center” and “spending more money,” they had targeted advice for Democrats: “Follow through with your promises” and “don’t go too woke.”
