GOP shutdown messaging seems to resonate with the public, for once

Though Republicans have traditionally been the party that received the most blame for government shutdowns, the GOP seems to have gained traction with the public this time, while it portrays the ongoing budget fight as unnecessary. The GOP's loudest message is that Democrats seek to fund illegal immigrant healthcare.

The Senate on Tuesday failed to approve a continuing resolution to fund the government, despite multiple Democrats breaking ranks to join Republicans on the measure. It needed 60 votes to pass, but failed by a 55-45 margin.

The shutdown took effect at midnight.

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have been at the forefront of the messaging on the shutdown, with both portraying the Democrats as primarily engineering the shutdown on behalf of non–citizens for political gain.

While Democrats have insisted that they are fighting to lower healthcare costs and to restore funding that Republicans cut from federal programs, some data appears to suggest that the Republican message is hitting home.

Healthcare for illegals

Vance, for his part, leaped into the media arena on Wednesday morning to make the GOP’s case and to substantiate the administration’s claims that the Democrats sought to restore federal funding to illegal alien healthcare.

"It's not something that we made up. It's not a talking point," he insisted during a Fox News media appearance. "There are two Biden-era programs that explicitly gave the taxpayer healthcare money to illegal aliens that we turned off when President Trump took over in January.”

"In the One Big, Beautiful Bill, President Trump and congressional Republicans turned off that money for healthcare to illegal aliens. The Democrats want to turn it back on," he concluded. The One Big, Beautiful Bill was a comprehensive legislative vehicle that Republicans passed earlier this year to codify some of President Donald Trump’s policies and to fund an increase in mass deportations. The bill also made modifications to certain federal healthcare programs.

Schumer shutdown?

Congress, in particular, has embraced the language of the “Schumer shutdown.” Some figures, moreover, have pointed to the New York Democrat’s possible personal motivations as his party grows frustrated with his leadership.

The alliterative branding led to a somewhat humorous moment on CNN Wednesday morning when the network pressed him on the “Schumer shutdown.” Speaking to the Democratic leader, a CNN reporter asked him what he thought of that language, with Schumer responding that he could not hear the reporter.

“Maybe the government shutdown included audio on Capitol Hill,” the reporter quipped.

In a separate post, Schumer insisted the shutdown was not about healthcare for illegal aliens and that his party was working to lower healthcare costs for Americans.

“Let me be perfectly clear: Undocumented people CANNOT AND WILL NOT receive ACA [Affordable Care Act] premium tax credits BY LAW. PERIOD,” Schumer posted. “This is a LIE from Republicans to divert attention from their shutdown. Republicans are refusing to lower healthcare costs for the American people.”

GOP Sen. calls DNC explanations "a sleight of hand play"

Schumer's counter-messaging effort saw him face immediate pushback. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., replied to him by highlighting that the issue lay not with the ACA, but with alien Medicaid eligibility through President Joe Biden’s use of parole and asylum to admit as many as 10 million people into the U.S.

"They're losing the argument," read a post on Mullin's official X account. “As [Vance] said, this is a sleight of hand play.” Mullin included the text of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, showing that the revision addressed the distribution of funds to states and provided for barring the receipt of Medicaid funds by illegals.

Trolling video features "Mexican Hat Dance" 

Trump himself has largely taken to memes and edited videos, and recently a "deepfake" using AI technology. That meme depicted an image of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries discussing their reasons for the shutdown. The video features an artificially-mustachioed Jeffries wearing a sombrero looking on as Schumer's voice insists that the Democrats have lost the support of the American people and needed to buy the support of illegal aliens by paying for health care in order to stay competitive.

Jeffries later condemned the video as “racist” and "disgusting" on MSNBC. Trump's team created another video that included Jeffries comments and then depicted him again with a mustache and sombrero. At that point in the video, multiple Donald Trumps are synthesized into forming a mariachi band behind Jeffries.

Public Perception: Too soon to tell

With the shutdown only one day in, pollsters have yet to freshly gauge public perception of the issue. But one reputable pollster, just ahead of the shutdown, revealed that the public opposed an explicitly Democratic-driven shutdown.

Overall, 65% of registered voters in a New York Times/Siena survey before the shutdown said that the Democrats shouldn’t shut down the government. 

Just 27% of respondents said they should, with only a plurality of Democrats (47%) supporting the move. Fifty-nine percent of independents, moreover, said that Democrats should not shut down the government.

Conducted Sept. 22-27, the survey questioned 1,313 registered voters.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.