GOP, Trump seen as getting more from shutdown deal; Democrats say party compromised too much, CBS poll finds
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There's some relief that the government shutdown is over, but Democrats are more likely to say they're frustrated about the deal that ended it, and that their party compromised too much.
By a wide margin, Americans say it was Republicans and President Trump who succeeded in getting more of what they wanted from the negotiations to end the shutdown.
This survey recontacted Americans first interviewed in our early-November poll, while the shutdown was in effect.
Today, most Democrats think their own party's congressional Democrats compromised too much. Most Republicans say their delegation's approach to compromise was about right.
And perhaps as a result, rank-and-file Democrats tend to agree that Trump and congressional Republicans got more of what they wanted, more so than their own party.
Among the wider public, more think the congressional Republicans didn't compromise enough than they think this of congressional Democrats.
During the shutdown, most disapproved of how all the players were handling things at that time.
That negativity remains when Americans are asked now, in retrospect, how each handled it.
But disapproval for congressional Democrats, when asked how they handled it, is now a bit higher than for congressional Republicans and Donald Trump.
That's driven in part by views among their own party, as well as some independents, more of whom had said they approved of Democrats' handling two weeks ago.
There's a lot of negativity in sentiments expressed about the deal among Democrats — top picks are frustrated, dissatisfied and also pessimistic, in front of even relieved.
Republicans, for their part, are more likely to say they're relieved and satisfied.
Most rank-and-file Democrats did think the party's positions were worth a shutdown, which may help explain the frustration they feel.
So what now? The shutdown did seem to have the effect of highlighting health care issues: Most say that was at least included among the issues debated. Today, two-thirds think that health insurance premiums will increase in the coming months, now that the shutdown has ended. As government employees and air traffic controllers begin to get paid, people do think air travel will improve in the coming weeks.
This CBS News/YouGov survey is based on a nationally representative sample of 1,288 U.S. adults who were recontacted November 13-14, 2024, after the government shutdown ended, following an initial survey conducted during the government shutdown October 29-31, 2025 using a nationally representative sample of 2,124 U.S. adults. The margin of error for the total sample in the recontact survey is ±3.3 points.
