This time around, the political optics aren’t breaking their way. Unlike past shutdowns where Democrats managed to shift the blame, the public mood has turned against them — and it looks like they’re finally beginning to realize it.

The Hill reported that Senate Democrats are quietly exploring ways to bring the shutdown to an end — but they’re trying to do it without appearing to cave to Republican demands:

Senate Democrats are taking a close look at a Republican proposal to pay all federal employees — including essential and furloughed workers — as they’re under new pressure from the nation’s largest federal workers union to pass a clean continuing resolution to reopen the government.

They also plan to introduce legislation to pay for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and extend funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, which provides essential nutrition assistance for lower income mothers.

The developments reveal Democrats are looking for a way to ease the impact of the four-week shutdown on federal workers who are struggling to pay their daily expenses and on lower income Americans who may soon run out of food.

Publicly, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and his leadership team are sticking to their arguments that President Trump needs to start negotiating on health insurance subsidies before they agree to reopen the government.

At the same time, Democrats are feeling intense pressure to end the shutdown in a way that gives them a political win — or at least a face-saving off-ramp from the stalemate that has stalled Washington for nearly 30 days.

Democrats are demanding an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, as well as the reversal of cuts to Medicare and Medicaid included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed earlier this year.

Republicans, meanwhile, are pushing for a clean continuing resolution, arguing that Democrats’ policy priorities should be addressed separately at a later time.

Senate Democrats have continued to block the House-passed stopgap funding measure, which has now failed 13 times in the upper chamber. The stalemate is beginning to raise serious concerns, as funding for key welfare programs — including food stamps — is expected to run out by the end of the month, leaving no funding available in November, just ahead of the holidays.

In the meantime, thousands of federal employees are either working without pay or have been furloughed as the shutdown drags on.