Whose fault is the government shutdown? Watch Americans in 8 key states lay the blame

• A federal government shutdown is entering its third week as lawmakers remain at a political impasse.
• The shutdown is causing airline disruptions, closures of museums and parks, and furloughs for federal workers.
• Americans across the country are feeling the effects and assigning blame to both political parties, Congress as a whole, and the president.

Members of Congress remain at loggerheads over how and when to reopen the federal government, and Americans in red and blue states alike are beginning to take notice.

“It’s a lot of antics going on in both parties,” Scott Wickham said as he walked amid the famed Spanish moss-covered trees in Savannah, Georgia. “In the past, government shutdowns were avoided because both parties were working together. Now they’re not doing that. So that’s a problem.” 

The funding crisis is in its third week, and the consequences are getting more severe. Airlines are experiencing disruptions. Many landmarks, including prominent museums and zoos, are closed. National parks have heavily reduced staffing. Mass furloughs and layoffs are causing tumult across the federal workforce. And funding for important safety-net programs like food stamps is running out.

Still, lawmakers have yet to move away from their respective political corners. Democrats are demanding that Republicans strike a deal with them to improve Americans' health care in exchange for a handful of votes to reopen the government. Republicans say they won't negotiate until the lights are turned back on. On Capitol Hill, tempers are flaring.

Those dynamics could change at any point. But so far, no one in Washington with the power to end the shutdown is budging significantly, leaving Americans to feel the pain as the standoff drags on indefinitely.

So how is the shutdown affecting Americans and who is to blame? We asked Americans in key states − including presidential battlegrounds and states with important 2026 midterm elections − for their take on the impasse.

Melissa Thomas, 30, a mother in Lansing, Michigan, said she tried to make some calls about her health care coverage, through Medicaid, and wasn’t able to get through to anybody. That’s unusual, she said, and troubling because she has important questions she needs answered. 

Thomas said she doesn’t know whom to blame for the shutdown, but lawmakers in Washington need to end the standoff. 

“I just hope they figure out what’s going on so the American people can get back to what they know,” she said. 

While visiting Wilmington, North Carolina, Tim Plehal of Litchfield, Minnesota, said he expected the shutdown to get worse, particularly with traveling. 

“I blame the whole political system,” he said. “Nobody in Congress, nobody’s doing their job. They’re not working for the people. They’re working for themselves and for their party.” 

Samantha Worrell of Burgaw, North Carolina, said the Republicans are to blame “because they have control of the House, the Senate, the presidency and they know the Democrats are not going to vote for something that’s going to hurt people, especially health care-wise.” 

Julia Hamilton of Mebane, North Carolina, was more blunt. She pinned the blame on one person: President Donald Trump. 

“He is all talk, I feel like, and he doesn’t really know what he’s doing, and he hasn’t done a lot of helpful things for us,” she said. 

In Pensacola, which has deep ties to U.S. Navy aviation, veteran Tommy Grimm said the shutdown isn’t hurting him directly yet, but he knows others who have been affected. Many are struggling without the pay.

As for blame, Grimm said it goes both ways. 

"If Hamas and Israel can reach a peace agreement, why can't our congressmen?" he said. "It's silly, it really is silly. Their job is to take care of the American people, not fight each other day and night, and they need to stop." 

Contributing: Miles Blumhardt, The Coloradoan in Fort Collins, Colorado; James Call and William Hatfield, Tallahassee Democrat; Brittany Misencik, Pensacola News Journal; Valentina Palm, The Palm Beach Post; Ansley Franco, Savannah Morning News; Paul Egan, Arpan Lobo, Clara Hendrickson and Emily Lawler, Detroit Free Press; Ian Lenahan, The Portsmouth Herald; Bob Liepa, the Wilmington (North Carolina) Star-News; Peiyu Lin, Kitsap Sun; and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Appleton Post-Crescent and Green Bay Press-Gazette