Two in three Americans express concern over the government shutdown
Washington DC, October 15, 2025 – Two in three Americans say they are concerned about the shutdown of the federal government, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in early October. Similarly, nearly half of Americans say that changes in the federal government could cause delays in services they rely on, such as Social Security payments or student aid (49%).
The poll also finds that four in five Americans say the U.S. military should remain politically neutral and not take a side in domestic policy debates (83%); relatively few (10%) say the military should take sides and supporting the president’s domestic policy agenda.
This Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted November 7-12, 2025, among 1,154 Americans.
About the Study
This poll was conducted October 3-7, 2025, by Ipsos on behalf of Reuters, using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,154 general population adults aged 18 or older.
The study was conducted in English. The data were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race and ethnicity, census region, metropolitan status, education, household income, 2024 vote choice and political party identification. Political party identification benchmarks are from the 2025 NPORS annual survey. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2024 March supplement of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS).
- Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45-59 and 60+)
- Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other, Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, 2+ Races, Non-Hispanic)
- Education (Less than High School, High School, Some College, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree or higher)
- Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
- Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
- Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
- 2024 Vote Choice (Trump, Harris, Another candidate, Did not vote)
- Political Party ID (Democrat, Lean Democrat, Republican, Lean Republican, Independent/Something else)
The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.07. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Alec Tyson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
[email protected]
Annaleise Azevedo Lohr
Vice President, US
Public Affairs
[email protected]
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