Majority Of Americans Think President Trump Should Not Declare National Emergency, New Poll Finds
A new CBS News poll has found that the majority of Americans oppose President Donald Trump declaring a national emergency to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Sixty-six percent of surveyed citizens say that Trump should not declare a national emergency, but Americans are divided along partisan lines. Seventy-three percent of Republicans think that Trump should declare a national emergency if Congress refuses to fund the wall.
Similarly, 73 percent of Americans overall want Trump to keep the government open while negotiating with the Congress, as opposed to forcing a shutdown once again. Seventy-five percent believe that the Democrats should continue negotiating rather than refuse and force another shutdown.
The majority of polled Democrats, 64 percent of them, want the Democratic Party to continue negotiations with the government open. Only a third believe that shutting the government down is a viable option.
Republicans appear split on what President Trump should do on February 15, when the government will be shut down again unless an agreement is reached, as 50 percent thinks that the negotiations should continue while keeping the government open, and the other half disagrees.
As detailed by a previous Inquisitr report, the select panel appointed to negotiate a deal to keep the government funded has not reached a compromise yet. And it likely will not, according to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, as long as President Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are at odds with each other.
CBS News poll says most Americans do not want Preident Trump to declare a national emergency over border wall funding https://t.co/kQUAuFR88q pic.twitter.com/0HjDVRlmFp
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 3, 2019
Being that building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border was one of Donald Trump’s key campaign promises, the president is not likely to budge, according to Shelby, which means that the chances of an agreement being reached are “slim,” as he put it.
Trump shut the government down in an effort to secure funding for the wall. Weeks later, the longest and most expensive government shutdown in American history ended with the president’s decision to reopen the government. But it has been reopened only temporarily, and the president has vowed to declare a national emergency on February 15 unless Congress approves funding for the border project.
Similarly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appears equally adamant. The top Democrat has pledged that there will be no money for Donald Trump’s wall.
Although the majority of Americans oppose declaring a national emergency, President Trump polls better on some issues. American citizens give Trump credit for the economy, and 77 percent say that the president is at least somewhat responsible for the growth.
When it comes to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference, Americans are divided along party lines. Republicans see the investigation as a “witch hunt,” while Democrats consider it to be vital to national security.
