Shutdowns are dumb and voters hate them | Weekly roundup for October 19, 2025

If you’re going to shut down the government, do it because you think it's worth it. Also this week: The VRA, gerrymandering and the midterms; party favorability ratings update; + more!

Dear readers,

It looks like we’re headed for the second-longest government shutdown on record. At publication, the current federal funding lapse has gone on for 19 days. That’s longer than the infamous 2013 shutdown (16 days) and is rivaling the 21-day shutdown in 1995-96, which we are very likely to eclipse. Only the 2018-2019 shutdown during Trump’s first term is longer (35 days).

Shutdowns are, of course, really stupid. They cost the government billions and cause undue stress to the families of government workers. People lose access to government services, and the economy takes a hit too. This year, the White House has also used the shutdown as an excuse to permanently fire thousands of federal workers and announce likely illegal unilateral executive cancellations of funds for infrastructure and other projects in blue states.

So this week, instead of talking about the shutdown blame game (Republicans are still getting the lion’s share, though the gap between the parties is narrowing),…