Pollster: Democrats’ SNAP Shutdown Gamble Risks Political Backlash
Pollster says food aid fight is alienating swing voters as courts keep benefits flowing; Rollins cites massive fraud and corruption in program
Pollster Matt Towery warned on Fox News that Democrats’ shutdown strategy surrounding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) could be “backfiring spectacularly,” as public frustration grows over blocked funding and judicial orders keep food aid flowing. Towery argued that Democrats’ push to highlight SNAP disruptions as a Republican failure may instead expose their own political vulnerability.
“I think the public is just now beginning to hear how many people who are receiving food stamps… are not from this country and came here illegally,” Towery said on The Ingraham Angle, suggesting that revelations about misuse could harden voter sentiment against the party’s approach.
He also said Democrats’ plan to provoke outrage might fizzle because court rulings have required the Trump administration to continue issuing SNAP payments through a $5 billion contingency fund. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has warned that the reserve won’t sustain the $9.2 billion-a-month program beyond November, as Democrats continue to block a temporary funding deal.
Towery predicted a broader realignment among younger voters frustrated with government dependency. “You won’t hear it from the legacy pollsters,” he said, “but the country is beginning to shift.”
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has directed White House lawyers to seek an expedited ruling on lawful funding for SNAP, accusing Democrats of “blocking relief for millions.” The administration has already reallocated tariff revenue and Pentagon research funds to maintain programs such as WIC and military pay.
Perspective: Some say the most important thing to come of this is a never had national conversation on SNAP. Farm bills, omnibus deliberations… they are always inside the Beltway with little trickling to the average citizen. Now, a massive light has been shown, and as noted, this could backfire. Especially once the data is revealed, which USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins highlighted Sunday morning via an appearance on Fox & Friends (i.e., one participant collecting across six States, deceased individuals, the OIG statistics etc.). See the box below for details.
| USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins calls to overhaul the EBT program as massive fraud and corruption is exposed. Here is what Rollins said Sunday, Nov. 2, on Fox & Friends: “We are being very clear that no illegal aliens can use snap. We asked every state for the first time in history, and this was in February, to send us their data and let us, with Doge and a war room, actually start going through this data to better understand how this explosion of SNAP benefits happened under Joe Biden. We increased almost 40% on this program in just a couple of years under the Biden administration. Of course, we know they were trying to buy the election, but that’s a conversation for another time. “And since we have asked for that data, 29 states have complied. Of course, almost all the red states, couple of blue states, too. But in that data, and I haven’t talked about this yet publicly, in that data, we have found, we studied about $100 billion in spending. We have found 1000s and 1000s of illegal use of the EBT card. We have been moving people off of SNAP. We’ve got almost 700,000 people I think we’ve moved off just since the President took office. We’ve arrested about 118 people. “So, this has been ongoing. But what this conversation has allowed is a national spotlight on a broken and corrupt program. We found one guy in six different states getting a benefit. We found [thousands of] people that are dead who are still getting benefits. Like it is time to drastically reform this program so that we can make sure that those who are truly needy, truly vulnerable are getting what they need, and the rest of the corruption goes away, and we can serve the American taxpayer.” |
