October 1, 2025

Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.

Poll: 65 Percent Oppose Government Shutdown, Democrats Highly Divided With 43 Percent Opposing 

By Robert Romano 

A Sept. 22 to Sept. 27 New York Times-Sienna poll found 65 percent of registered voters oppose Congressional Democrats’ efforts to use a government shutdown to meet their demands, which include permanently expanding Obamacare tax credits, giving taxpayer-funded health care to millions of illegal aliens including DACA and removing the One Big Beautiful Bill's protections against waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. 

Particularly, Democrats are closely divided on the shutdown plan, with 43 percent opposing the shutdown, along with 92 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of independents.  

In a similar vein, 43 percent of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ voters also oppose the Democrats’ shutdown strategy, as do 91 percent of President Donald Trump’s voters.  

The Democratic plan, besides being unpopular, would be costly, adding $662 billion in the deficit over the next decade, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. 

President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) have already offered to talk to Democrats later about their concerns on expiration of Obamacare premium tax credits, they have also said they will not do so while the government is shut down.  

There is nothing left to negotiate.  

The House has already passed a clean continuing resolution through Nov. 21 to give the appropriations process more time. The only thing gumming up the works is the U.S. Senate, with Senate Democrats blocking the bill until their demands are met. But this is a no-win situation for the Democrats. It won’t work. 

Because it has never worked with the party attempting to block basic government funding lacking the House, the Senate and White House. The shutdowns we have experienced were always with situations of mixed government. 

In other words, the parties in failed prior shutdowns had a lot more leverage than Democrats have today in their weakened position.  

The 2018-2019 shutdown was intent to push border wall funding via a continuing resolution that Democrats filibustered, that ended when Congressional Republicans folded and President Trump instead declared a national emergency to reprogram existing security funding towards the border wall instead. Republicans had the House, Senate and White House, lost the House to Democrats after the 2018 midterms, ultimately could not use the shutdown to get Democrats to agree to border funding. 

A 2013 shutdown to stop funding for Obamacare similarly failed. In that case, Democrats controlled the White House and Senate, while Republicans had a majority in the House. Democrats in the Senate would not support the House Republican plan to defund Obamacare and eventually Republican leaders folded. 

The 1995 and 1996 shutdowns (there were two) occurred with Republicans with House and Senate majorities, while Democrats had the White House, and they could not get Bill Clinton to agree to all of their demands, although it ultimately led to balanced budget agreements in subsequent years. Some mixed success there, which depended entirely on Republican majorities in the House and Senate.  

A 1990 shutdown began when then-President George H.W. Bush vetoed a funding bill — Democrats controlled the House and the Senate at the time — only to fold days later by replacing his proposals to raise taxes and cut spending. 

The shutdowns of the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan all occurred in situations of mixed government two, with Republicans controlling the White House and Senate, and Democrats running the House. These too had mixed results, and again, were dependent on having majorities. 

There is such no majority to pass the Democrats’ continuing resolution. It just failed in the Senate by a vote of 47 to 53 with a single Republican supporting it. They could bring it up 100 times and it would still fail. There is not even a veneer that what they are attempting to jam down the American people’s throats is bipartisan.  

You need one of the three, the House, the Senate or the White House to really get to the table on a shutdown, and Democrats lack all three. They don’t even have a debt ceiling to barter with, or to hold back border wall funding or other parts of the President’s economic program. All that was adopted in the President’s One Big Beautiful Bill. So, this is going nowhere — fast. 

Which might be in Democrats’ best interests, considering how little support there is for a Democratic-fueled shutdown to meet their Obamacare expansion demands — just 27 percent in the New York Times-Siena poll who thought the shutdown was a good idea, and Democrats deeply divided on the issue. With that kind of internal division, it is just a matter of time before Democrats fold — without getting anything in return.  

Robert Romano is the Executive Director of Americans for Limited Government.  

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2025/10/poll-65-percent-oppose-government-shutdown-democrats-highly-divided-with-43-percent-opposing/  

Do Democrats Even Have A Plan? Only One-In-Five Americans Trust Democrats Over The GOP To Tackle Crime And the Border In Crushing New Poll   

By Manzanita Miller   

The past ten and a half months have not been easy on Democrats, with the party losing the popular vote for the first time in two decades, watching President Donald Trump actively secure the border, deport criminals, combat the radical left cultural agenda, and perform possibly the largest audit of the federal government in history. Over the past year, the Democratic Party has seen its popularity plummet, with Democratic identity reaching a new low in 2025. Conservativism is now the leading ideology in the nation, and nearly two-thirds of Americans reject liberalism. Between 2020 and 2024, the GOP added 2.4 million voters while Democrats parted ways with 2.1 million. Democrats have been trailing Republicans on the handling of major issues that will determine the midterm election outcome for months.   

Thirteen months out from the midterm elections, a new survey is showing possibly the worst numbers the Democratic Party has seen all year on the handling of key issues like crime and immigration. The Democratic Party is even losing on issues it tends to hold an edge on, such as “fighting corruption” and gun control.   

The Reuters/Ipsos survey, conducted Sep. 19-21 on 1,019 U.S. adults, shows Americans are deeply mistrustful of handing the reins over to the Democratic Party on key issues, with Americans saying by wide double-digits the GOP has a better plan to handle crime, immigration, and the economy.   

Americans say by 20 points – 40 percent to 20 percent – Republicans have a better plan than Democrats to handle crime and say by 18 points – 40 percent to 22 percent – Republicans have a better plan than Democrats to handle immigration. In other words, only about one-in-five Americans say the Democratic Party has come up with a better plan than the GOP to tackle crime and the illegal immigrant crisis.    

Americans also trust the GOP over the Democratic Party on foreign policy by twelve points – 35 percent to 23 percent – and on the economy by ten points – 34 percent to 24 percent.    

While these numbers are bad enough for Democrats, they look even worse when compared to the way voters felt in the last midterm election cycle in 2022. As CNN data analyst Harry Enten warned Democrats last week, Americans trust Democrats significantly less now compared to the last midterm cycle. Ipsos polling from 2022 found Republicans ahead by three points on immigration, and the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows the GOP ahead by 18 points, a 15-point swing. On crime, Republicans were more trusted than Democrats by 13 points in 2022 and are now trusted more by 20 points.    

The current Reuters/Ipsos poll even shows Democrats losing on two issues the party often capitalizes on, combatting “political extremism”, and gun control. Republicans are more trusted to handle political extremism by four points, 32 percent to 28 percent, according to the survey. The GOP is also more trusted on the second amendment by four points, 30 percent to 26 percent.   

A recent New York Times/Siena College survey conducted Sep. 22-27 further underscores Democrats’ inability to regain voter trust, particularly on immigration. The survey finds that overall Americans believe President Trump is deporting the right kind of people – illegal aliens with a focus on those with criminal records. The survey found voters support the core of President Trump’s immigration policy with voters saying by ten points – 54 percent to 44 percent – they support deporting illegal immigrants. In addition, voters say by nine points – 51 percent to 42 percent – that the government is mostly deporting people who “should” be deported.    

The Democratic Party – rather than offering workable policy solutions to persistent issues like the border crisis, rampant crime, unbalanced trade and foreign policy deals, and political extremism largely stemming form their own party – have staked their entire identity on opposing President Trump and conservatives. This is proving to be a grave miscalculation, because voters no longer trust Democrats to handle the most pressing policy issues. Instead, voters largely trust the party that is offering workable solutions and can demonstrate measurable progress toward a safer and more sovereign future.   

Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.  

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2025/10/do-democrats-even-have-a-plan-only-one-in-five-americans-trust-democrats-over-the-gop-to-tackle-crime-and-the-border-in-crushing-new-poll/  

President Trump Should Direct OPM To Automate 'Emergency Work' Systems During Shutdown 

Sept. 30, 2025, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government Executive Director Robert Romano today issued the following statement urging President Donald Trump to automate federal government functions during the government shutdown: 

"Democrats are trying to cripple federal government functions in a bid to permanently expand Obamacare tax credits, give taxpayer-funded health care to millions of illegal aliens including DACA and remove the One Big Beautiful Bill's protections against waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. The Democratic plan would add more than $662 billion to the deficit according to the Congressional Budget Office, all in exchange for leaving the government open for just a month. Democrats should gain nothing from this foolish gambit and would be much better off passing the clean, bipartisan continuing resolution now being offered by Republicans in the Senate.  

“Instead, U.S. Code Section 1341(c)(1)(D) provides that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has the power to define what emergency work is by excepted employees to keep governmental functions running. President Trump should direct OPM to automate as many of the non-sensitive functions especially mundane tasks like data entry of the furloughed government employees as can be with the use of technology including artificial intelligence-directed software on an emergency basis. Even seven years ago, the last shutdown this would not have been possible. The longest shutdown in modern history was 35 days, I bet the work of thousands could be put on autopilot in that time. What would be discovered at the end of the process was how little paper pushers were needed to carry out the business of the American people, fully justifying the inevitable reductions in force that should follow when the horse and buggy bureaucrats become obsolete. It's time for an upgrade." 

To view online: https://getliberty.org/2025/10/president-trump-should-direct-opm-to-automate-emergency-work-systems-during-shutdown/