Two-year old Rosa Rivera is carried by her mother, Tania Alfonso, 38, a federal worker, as Union members, including National Federation of Federal Employees and SEIU, and furloughed federal workers rally in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, January 23, 2019.

Around 800,000 federal employees missed their second payday in a row on Friday as the partial government shutdown entered its 35th day. For most Americans, that would spell disaster. Over half, or 54 percent, of people say they would have trouble paying their bills if they were forced to go without more than two paychecks, according to a new poll of over 1,000 U.S. adults from FOX News. That total includes the one in five Americans who say they couldn't even go without one paycheck. Other research indicates the situation could be even more dire: 78 percent of American workers say they're living paycheck-to-paycheck, according to a 2017 report by employment website CareerBuilder.

The impact of the shutdown

With no end to the shutdown in sight, many government employees have had to get creative to meet their financial responsibilities. Some have opted to cancel autopay on their bills, skip seeing the doctor, or even sell their car. Hundreds are turning to local food pantries and shelters to feed their families. One Chicago-based food pantry told the Chicago Tribune it had helped 130 federal employees since the shutdown started, while a Utah-based organization estimated it had given out supplies to 280 federal employees. That confuses Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, he told CNBC on Thursday. "I don't really quite understand why because, as I mentioned before, the obligations that they would undertake – say, borrowing from a bank or credit union – are in effect federally guaranteed." Workers could be visiting real banks instead, Ross said: "The 30 days of pay that people will be out – there's no real reason why they shouldn't be able to get a loan against it, and we've seen a number of ads from the financial institutions doing that."

His response was criticized as "out of touch with reality" by one money expert. He also took heat from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who compared him to Marie Antoinette. Roughly eight out of 10 Americans say they're very or extremely concerned about "what's going on in Washington these days," according to the FOX poll. The only bigger worry: health care costs.

What to do to pay the bills