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New Poll: By 52-33% Margin, Americans Blame Trump/GOP for Government Shutdown over the Border Wall

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New Poll: By 52-33% Margin, Americans Blame Trump/GOP for Government Shutdown over the Border Wall

New polling from Politico/Morning Consult shows that Trump and Republicans are losing the battle of public opinion on the shutdown:

  • By a combined 52-33% margin, Americans blame Trump/Republicans for the shutdown with a huge plurality holding President Trump responsible.

When asked, “who would you say is mostly to blame for the government shutdown?” the Politico/Morning Consult poll found 47% of Americans blame President Trump and 5% blame Republicans in Congress (which, combined with the Trump number gives the 52% GOP figure); 33% of people blame Democrats in Congress; and the remainder 15% don’t know or have no opinion.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found similar results:

  • 51% of the public blames Trump, 7% blames congressional Republicans, and 32% blame congressional Democrats.

Additional Findings

The Politico/Morning Consult poll asked: “Do you think President Trump did enough or not enough to try and bring Republicans and Democrats together to pass a spending bill and avoid the government shutting down?”

  • 52% of Americans think Trump did not do enough to avoid the shutdown versus just 29% who think he did.
  • 65% of Americans stated that Presidents should take all necessary steps to avoid a government shutdown and that Presidents should achieve their policy goals another way rather than a shutdown, while just 22% say Presidents should allow a temporary shutdown if it helps them achieve their policy goals.
  • More than two-thirds of Americans want Congress to “take all necessary steps” to avoid shutting the government. 67% of Americans in the Politico/Morning Consult poll say that members of Congress should take all necessary steps to avoid a government shutdown, while just 19% say that members of Congress should allow a temporary  government shutdown if it helps them achieve their policy goals.

Reminder: only 25% of Americans support a government  shutdown over the wall.

  • In the Reuters/Ipsos poll, only 25% of Americans support shutting down the government until Congress approves funding the border wall and only 35% support including wall funding in a congressional spending bill.