In response, however, more pragmatic voters are increasingly irate about political paralysis and their governing institutions’ inability to respond to the preferences of a clear majority of the population. In the midst of the shutdown, the Republican Party’s popular approval rating sank to barely a quarter of the national electorate, a historic low, while the approval rating for Congress as a whole stood at just 5%.
茶党共和党的愤怒（就像“占领华尔街”示威者的愤怒）反映的是一种观念——只有戏剧性甚至革命性的手段才能改变制度。但是，作为回应，更务实的选民越来越恼怒于政治瘫痪以及他们的治理机构在应对显然是多数人口的偏好方面的无能。在政府关门期间，共和党全国选民支持率下降到四分之一，达到了历史最低点，而对全体国会的支持率只有5%。