Close to half of Americans blame President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans for the government partially shutting down, according to a new poll.

In a survey conducted by the Washington Post on Oct. 1 – the first day of the shutdown – 47% said they blamed Trump and Republicans in Congress for the ongoing impasse that has left thousands of federal workers without pay and halted various government activities.

Another 30% blame the crisis on congressional Democrats, and 23% said they were "not sure" when asked who they think is "mainly responsible" for the shutdown.

The poll also found 66% of respondents said they are either "very" or "somewhat" concerned over the shutdown, and another 34% said they are either "not too" or "not at all" concerned. The survey was conducted on Oct. 1, surveying a nationally representative sample of 1,010 people via text. It has a margin of error of ±3.5 percentage points.

The Washington Post poll is among the first major national surveys to gage Americans' opinions on the crisis following the midnight shut down in the early morning hours of Oct. 1, after congressional leaders failed to reach a resolution that would keep the lights on. In a series of polls released on the shutdown eve of Sept. 30, respondents offered a more divided picture of where Americans were placing the brunt of the blame.

In a five-day New York Times survey released Sept. 30, most U.S. voters surveyed said both parties would be at fault for a shutdown, at 33%.

Yet between the two parties, a little more than a quarter of respondents, 26%, said they would blame congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump, and 19% pointed their fingers at the Democrats.

Another 21% said they had not heard enough about the shutdown to say who was responsible. The survey was conducted Sept. 22 through Sept. 27, surveying 1,313 registered voters, with a ±3.2 % margin of error.

In a NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll released the same day, nearly four in 10 Americans said Republicans would be to blame for the shutdown, at 38%, while another 31% said they blamed both parties.

As in the New York Times survey, Democrats were the third most likely to be blamed, at 27%. Four percent of respondents said they would not blame either political party. The poll was conducted Sept. 22 through 26, among 1,477 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points.

Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: GOP, Trump get more blame for shutdown than Democrats, poll shows

Reporting by Kathryn Palmer, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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