Shutdown will end in days to avoid fallout from 'people literally starving': GOP pollster

As the government shutdown reached its 35th day on Tuesday, one Republican pollster is predicting the shutdown will end as early as next week, and entirely due to the lapse of a wildly popular government anti-poverty program.

“There are so many people in America that live paycheck-to-paycheck, and they can’t afford to miss even one check,” said Frank Luntz, longtime political consultant and GOP pollster, speaking with Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power” podcast in an interview published Monday night, The Hill reported Tuesday.

“And right now, they’re in pressure – they’re under pressure and they’re in trouble, which is why I actually expect the government to reopen by next week, another week from now, because, in the end, nobody wants to be held responsible for people literally starving.”

The government shutdown began on Oct. 1 after Congress became deadlocked over a dispute on spending – specifically, a disagreement around extending funding for government health care subsidies. Democrats have refused to support any funding measure that doesn’t include an extension for the subsidies, whereas Republicans have stood firm in rejecting Democrats’ demands.

After funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program lapsed on Saturday, however, 42 million Americans living in poverty are now without food assistance, including 16 million children. And, with nearly half of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, the mounting pressure on lawmakers to reopen the government will increase exponentially, Luntz argued, and ultimately force their hand.

“In Virginia, there are so many government employees or family members of the government employees, or someone whose best friend is a government employee, and they’re fed up with this,” Luntz said. “You hear people complaining about airports being – long lines and flights being delayed. You hear people complaining about not getting their paycheck, which is real.”