The latest polls indicate Americans are mostly split on who's to blame for the federal government shutdown, though one expert says that could change soon.
Unless the government starts running again in the next 10 days, there'll be noticeable cuts in federal services, and political analyst Bill Miller says most Americans haven't been able to watch the shutdown drama unfold over the past three weeks because most are busy getting settled in after vacations ended and kids are getting settled in back to school.
A new AP-NORC poll shows about 60% of those asked blame Republicans for the shutdown, while 54% blame Democrats, with a very small 6 percentage points between them.
Miller says a margin that's so small indicates many people blame all of Washington for the gridlock of broken compromises that could have led to government offices staying open.
Both sides say they want compromise, but there is little evidence of it in practice, and some if not most of it comes down to who's winning the PR battles.
"Time will tell who wins the propaganda wars, but right now I'd say it's up in the air, could go either way depending on developments, what closes when and how it affects people."
There are other polls that show similar results recently, with the gap a little smaller, but poll respondents are currently leaning toward blaming "all of the above."
"It's not one or the other, Republican or Democrat, if it's down the middle or close to down the middle, which means 60%-to-40% or 40%-to-60%, it can be praise to both houses or a pox on both houses," Miller says.
"For now, everybody in Washington gets a pass, the kids are back in school, people aren't traveling as much, but it's going to change."
If the shutdown isn't called off, "come Thanksgiving, they'll notice, that's when it'll really hit home to people," when they see there are national parks closed, SNAP benefits run out and there are cutbacks in other federal programs.
Then, Miller says, people will start the blame game in earnest, and one party or the other will take the brunt of public opinion.