'Nearly triple!' CNN expert stunned as Dems rake in support in shutdown fight

New polling left CNN’s Harry Enten stunned Wednesday as data showed voters from both sides of the aisle are more supportive of their own party forcing a government shutdown than at any point in the past 12 years — with a significant spike in backing seen among Democratic voters.

“This is an America that, more so than ever before, is willing to go to a shutdown,” Enten said.

According to the new polling, 33% of voters in 2013 were supportive of their party “standing on principle,” even if it meant causing a government shutdown, compared to 57% who were outright opposed to a shutdown. Fast forward to today, however, and the number of those in support of forcing a shutdown spiked “like a rocket” to 49%.

"Traditionally, the majority of Americans want compromise, not shutdown. If you go back to 2013, just 33% said 'stand on principle,' even if it means a shutdown,” Enten said.

“Come to [2025], we see an even split; 50% of Americans say they want a compromise, no shutdown, but up like a rocket, we see now 49% of Americans either wanting a shutdown, or saying they want their side to stand on principle.”

The polling comes amid a government closure that kicked off at midnight Wednesday, the result of Congress being unable to reach an agreement on spending ahead of an Oct. 1 deadline.

Republicans have urged Democrats to agree to what’s known as a continuing resolution – a stopgap measure to fund the government at existing levels, usually for several weeks to give lawmakers more time to negotiate a more long-term spending bill – but Democrats have refused, withholding their support for any spending bill that doesn’t include funding for Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire this year.

The shutdown follows a previous funding fight back in March in which the government came close to shutting down before Democratic leadership capitulated to Republicans' requests, and without gaining any notable concessions in an incident that saw Democratic leadership receive blowback from voters.

The new polling was even more striking when looking exclusively at Democratic voters. In 2013, only 18% of Democratic voters were in favor of instigating a government shutdown to achieve the party’s goals, whereas today, that number has soared to 47%.

“More than double, in fact, nearly triple the percentage of Democrats now say stand on principle as compared to 2013,” Enten said. “What we're seeing is a Democratic Party that is much more so than ever before saying 'you know what, let's shut down the government so that we can stand on principle.'"