Americans Blame Trump, Republicans for Shutdown

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that by a wide margin, more Americans blame President Trump and Republicans in Congress than congressional Democrats for the now record-breaking government shutdown, and most reject the president’s assertion that there is an illegal-immigration crisis on the southern border.

Key findings: “53% say Trump and the Republicans are mainly at fault, and 29% blame the Democrats in Congress. Thirteen percent say both sides bear equal responsibility for the shutdown. That is identical to the end of the 16-day shutdown in 2013, when 29% blamed then-President Barack Obama and 53% put the responsibility on congressional Republicans.”

Support for building a wall on the border, which is the principal sticking point in the stalemate between the president and Democrats, has increased over the past year. Today, 42% say they support a wall, up from 34% last January. A slight majority of Americans (54%) oppose the idea, down from 63 percent a year ago.”

“The increase in support is sharpest among Republicans… Not only has GOP support increased, it has also hardened. Today, 70% of Republicans say they strongly support the wall, an increase of 12 points since January 2018.”