Poll: More voters feeling the impact of federal shutdown

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(The Center Square) – As the federal government shutdown drags into its 37th day, more voters say they are feeling some impact. An equal number of voters also either blame Democrats or Republicans the most for the shutdown, according to polling from Napolitan News Service.

The survey of 1,000 registered voters was conducted online by Scott Rasmussen from Nov. 3-4.

According to the data, 44% of voters now report at least feeling some impact from the shutdown that began on Oct. 1. That is up 5 percentage points from 39% last week, and is a new high, Napolitan reports.

The 44% include 16% who report they've felt a lot of impact, and 28% who say they've felt some impact.

The poll comes as the Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that it was reducing air traffic by 10% at 40 of the largest U.S. airports. Tens of thousands of flights already have been delayed or cancelled as more air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers who are unpaid miss shifts.

Bryan Bedford, the FAA administrator, said flight controllers have reported "issues of fatigue" during the shutdown. 

According to the Napolitan data, 36% of voters place most of the blame for the shutdown on Republicans, and an equal 36% place it mostly on Democrats, while 22% blame both parties equally.

"The number blaming Republicans is down 3 points from last week," Neapolitan says. "Meanwhile, the number blaming Democrats has gone up 4 points since then."

RMG Research, Inc. conducted the field work for the survey. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

The Center Square reporters Therese Boudreaux and Andrew Rice contributed to this report.