Who do Americans blame for the current government shutdown? Should a national emergency be declared in order to divert funding for a border wall? And do Americans even want a wall?
Those questions and more were answered by respondents in a new CBS/YouGov poll, which was released on Friday evening. The results probably won’t be to the liking of President Donald Trump.
Most Americans, for instance, disapprove his handling of the shutdown so far, with 55 percent giving him bad marks for how he’s done things. Thirty-five percent say he’s done a good job dealing with the shutdown.
Democrats don’t have much of a better approval rating than Trump — in fact, less Americans give them positive results, with only 33 percent approving how congressional Democrats have handled themselves since the shutdown began. However, their numbers on disapproval (46 percent) are markedly better than the president’s.
And Republicans get the worst marks of all on that question. Just 21 percent of Americans approve of Republican members of Congress, while 53 percent disapprove of how they’ve handled the shutdown crisis.
Blame for the shutdown falls largely toward the president, according to the poll’s findings. Forty-seven percent said Trump was to blame, while 30 percent faulted the Democrats for the ongoing funding debate.
Americans know who’s responsible for the manufactured crisis that’s hurting our workers. #TrumpShutdown https://t.co/5U7JaQKWws
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) January 10, 2019
The shutdown crisis, which will enter a record-setting 22nd day on Saturday, is based on an impasse between congressional Democrats and Trump. The latter is saying he won’t sign any continuing resolution to fund the government unless it comes with a provision to include nearly $6 billion in border wall funding; the former are refusing to vote in favor of the idea.
House Democrats passed a bill earlier this month that re-opened the government in early January, sans appropriations for a border wall, according to reporting from CNBC . Trump has vowed to veto it, and the Senate, controlled by Republicans, won’t take the measure up.
While debate rages on over which side is right on the wall, most Americans, it seems, side with Democrats on this one. The CBS/YouGov poll found that just 45 percent of Americans even want the border wall, while 55 percent say it’s a position they do not back themselves.
Even more Americans are opposed to Trump declaring a national emergency to move federal funds toward his border wall project. Thirty-three percent of Americans like the idea of Trump doing that, but 67 percent are opposed to the plan.
While he’s maintained he still has the right to declare a national emergency to get the wall built, Trump walked back his rhetoric on the idea on Friday, per previous reporting from the Inquisitr .
