Featured October 3, 2025 Navigating the government shutdown: Essential information you need to know Back to Blog Half of Americans say the federal government shutdown is impacting their community Date October 22, 2025 Authors Paul Hitlin Tags Congress, Government Effectiveness A new, nationally representative survey conducted by the Partnership for Public Service finds the ongoing federal government shutdown is having a widespread impact on the American people and that the public is concerned the country will face greater problems if additional federal workers are fired. Nearly half of the country (48%) say the shutdown is impacting people in their community. Only 27% disagree while another quarter are unsure. The survey was conducted about a week into the shutdown and shows that a large portion of the country is noticing consequences resulting from the furloughs of civil servants and the disruption of services across the government. The percentage of people who say the shutdown is impacting their community differs by political affiliation—a finding that aligns with previous Partnership research that showed partisan identity influences how Americans think about the federal government. Fully 69% of self-identified Democrats are seeing an impact, compared with 27% of Republicans and 38% of independents. When asked to describe specific consequences they are seeing, many respondents cited travel and airline delays. Others mentioned how they, or someone close to them, are unable to work or receive paychecks. A few referred to limited services available at national parks and potential outcomes for health insurance. These results come from a nationally representative survey of 1,096 Americans conducted by the Partnership from Oct. 9-13, 2025, using the AmeriSpeak omnibus survey and probability panel produced by NORC at the University of Chicago. One-quarter of Americans say the shutdown is impacting them personally Fewer Americans say they have been personally affected by the shutdown than their community. About one-quarter (26%) say the shutdown has impacted them directly, compared with 56% who say it has not and 18% who are unsure. Democrats (38%) are more than twice as likely to say they have been impacted than Republicans (16%) or independents (17%). Americans are concerned about the impact of mass firings Additionally, Americans are expressing significant apprehension about how large-scale federal workforce cuts could affect both individuals and the wellbeing of the broader community. About half of Americans (49%) say they would be concerned about the impact on their communities “if there are a lot of firings of federal employees during the shutdown.” The survey was conducted Oct. 9-13, during which the Trump administration announced the layoffs of thousands of federal employees on Oct. 10. The legality of those layoffs has been challenged in court. Fewer people (38%) say they are not concerned while 13% were unsure. As with the other survey questions, partisan differences were significant with Democrats (73%) far more likely to be concerned than Republicans (22%) and independents (41%). For more information about how the government shutdown is impacting federal employees and the public, visit the Partnership’s government shutdown resource hub. Paul Hitlin manages research for the Partnership's Center for Presidential Transition and also helps lead the Partnership's research on public trust of the federal government.
