A majority of those who support extending protections for Dreamers still said the shutdown was not worth it. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo Poll: 84 percent of voters call government shutdown 'unnecessary'

A vast majority of voters say that the government shutdown was “mainly unnecessary” and that congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump share most of the blame for it, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Eighty-four percent deemed the shutdown mostly unnecessary while only 13 percent cast it as “mainly necessary,” the Quinnipiac University National poll found. The sentiment was prevalent across party lines, with 89 percent of Republicans and 78 percent of Democrats saying it was not needed.


The findings showed that voters largely faulted congressional Democrats and the White House equally for the lapse in government funding, with 32 percent blaming Democratic lawmakers and 31 percent blaming the president. Only 18 percent faulted GOP lawmakers, Quinnipiac found.

The results mirrored those of a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll conducted over the weekend in which Democrats garnered 35 percent of the blame while Trump and Republicans registered 34 percent and 15 percent of the blame respectively.

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American voters also overwhelmingly supported allowing so-called Dreamers, the undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, to remain in the country legally. The finding indicates broad approval for one of the main concessions congressional Democrats sought in allowing the government to shut down.

“While Republicans in Congress don’t get much of the blame for the shutdown, they should take note of the consistent, strong support for action to help the Dreamers,” Quinnipiac researcher Tim Malloy in a statement.

But even so, a majority of those who support extending protections for Dreamers still said the shutdown was not worth it by a 10-point margin, 53 percent to 43 percent.

Congress’ ratings overall continued to draw poor marks, with 70 percent registering disapproval of Republican lawmakers and 63 percent of Democratic officials.

The Quinnipiac poll surveyed 1,245 voters nationwide Jan. 19-23 via live interviews, landlines and cell phones, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points, including the design effect.

