Majority Of Americans Don’t Want Another Shutdown

Most Americans don't want to see another government shutdown, but they're somewhat divided on the issue of a border wall.

A new poll indicates that a majority of Americans don’t want another government shutdown, but are split on the issue of the President’s border wall:

The deal reached by congressional negotiators to fund the government past Friday may not make President Donald Trump happy, but a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll suggests another government shutdown would make voters even more upset.

The poll, conducted before leaders of the conference committee reached an agreement on Monday, shows little appetite among voters for another shutdown. It comes three weeks after the longest-ever lapse in appropriations ended. Only 33 percent of respondents support another shutdown over Trump’s demand for a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. Roughly 6 in 10 voters oppose another shutdown.

Members of Congress announced a deal on Monday that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies through the end of September. The agreement does not provide any money for a concrete wall along the border and far less for fencing than Trump had requested.

The president panned the deal Tuesday, but said he did not expect to force another government shutdown by rejecting any funding bill that passes Congress.

“I don’t think you are going to see a shutdown,” Trump said. “I wouldn’t want to go to it. If you did have it, it’s the Democrats’ fault.”

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll suggests Trump and Republicans would shoulder more blame for another shutdown than Democrats. A combined 52 percent of voters would blame Trump or Republicans in Congress if the government shuts down again, according to the poll — greater than the 37 percent who would blame congressional Democrats.

Tyler Sinclair, Morning Consult’s vice president, said that’s closer than in polls before the shutdown that began late last year and stretched into January.

“Although voters would hold President Trump responsible for a second shutdown, there’s an uptick in voters who would blame congressional Democrats,” Sinclair said. “Notably, 37 percent of voters would blame congressional Democrats for a government shutdown, compared to 31 percent who said the same before the first shutdown.”

Similarly, voters are split on whether the U.S. should build a wall along the southern border: 47 percent support it and 47 percent oppose it. Earlier POLITICO/Morning Consult polls showed more voters opposed to the border wall.

What these numbers suggest, of course, is that it is in the interests of all parties in Washington to avoid a second shutdown, something that seems like it could spur each side to overlook imperfections in the what the negotiators have come up with and agree to the deal notwithstanding those imperfections. While this poll and others indicate that it is the President and, by extension, Republicans who would receive most of the political blame for another shutdown, there’s also evidence that Congressional Democrats could suffer some political blowback in the event of another shutdown. This is why I suggested earlier this week that it was a mistake for Democrats to try to add the issue of detention beds to the negotiations. While this is certainly an important issue, it diverted from the reasons why the conference committee was established, and the apparent disagreement over the detention of migrants with criminal records seemed to be one that could have come back to haunt Democrats if it led to a shutdown.

In any case, with signs increasing that the deal negotiated by House and Senate conferees, while imperfect, is likely to pass Congress and be accepted by the President, this would appear to avoid the political blowback that another shutdown would have for either party. If that’s the case, then Congress can finally put this issue behind it, for now, and Washington will be able to move on to whatever the next controversy might be coming around the corner.

FILED UNDER: Borders and Immigration, Congress, Deficit and Debt, Public Opinion Polls, US Politics, , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Michael Reynolds says:

    These polls are just another reiteration of the 50/40 Trump approval numbers. Polls will only be really interesting should they show something other than that same 5 to 4 ratio.

    On a scale of what’s important to the parties, the wall is a 10 out of 10 for Trump. It’s at most a 6 out of 10 for Democrats. He needs the win, we don’t, and yet we’ve won. McConnell has evidently explained to the Great Negotiator that if he tries to shut the government down again with a veto the Senate Republicans will override. Trump will lie, obviously, and #Cult45 will pretend to believe the lie, but it’s going to rankle, it’s going to be a gnawing worm inside Trump and the Trumpaloons. Suspension of critical faculties, even among the stoopids who support Trump, has its limits.

    Bottom line, Democrats are running no risk. In 2020 not 1% of voters will be thinking, “I was going to vote D, but they didn’t give Trump his wall, so I’d better vote R.” The risk is entirely on Trump’s side – it’s his promise, his failure to deliver.

    5
  2. Kathy says:

    If Dennison couldn’t get much done with a Congress controlled by his party, it should be obvious he won’t do better with a divided Congress. Since it is as obvious as a ten megaton nuke going off three micrometers from your eye, I estimate Dennison will get it ten or twenty years after he’s left office, if he’s still alive by then.

    He’ll just never admit it.

  3. al Ameda says:

    @Michael Reynolds:

    These polls are just another reiteration of the 50/40 Trump approval numbers. Polls will only be really interesting should they show something other than that same 5 to 4 ratio.

    Dead on.
    What matter is what Anne Coulter wants.

    2
  4. gVOR08 says:

    So 47%, apparently unaware of the extensive physical barriers already in place, think we should build an infeasible “wall”, that would be ineffective in solving the illegal immigration problem, which doesn’t actually exist. Is 47 the new 27?

    1
  5. Teve says:

    Got to admit though Trump is a master negotiator. A year ago Democrats were offering him 25 billion dollars for the wall. He’s negotiated them down to 1.375 billion for some fencing. That’s a level of business acumen so great I can’t even comprehend it.

    13
  6. Michael Reynolds says:

    @Teve:
    You and I are playing checkers, dontcha know? Trump is playing n-dimensional chess. It’s all part of his master plan to get it down to 5% of his ask, and about 2% of the actual cost. MAGA!

    A small, beautiful fence, paid for the American taxpayer. That is EXACTLY what he promised.

    4
  7. Kathy says:

    @gVOR08:

    What Dennison’s Simpletons fail to understand is that walls by themselves are little but temporary obstacles. This goes even for the very formidable Theodosian walls around Constantinople.

    During a siege of a walled city, defenders stood atop the wall in order to fire arrows, throw projectiles, hurl spears, and/or dump boiling oil or water, on the enemy trying to breach the wall. absent defenders, any wall would be breached in hours.

    Border walls like Hadrian’s wall or the Great Wall of China, also require defenders. Both these walls had forts or watchtowers at regular intervals, and you’d better believe soldiers patrolled the area.

    But both types were defensive walls to slow down, or stop, invading armies.

    For a wall that was set up for the purpose of preventing the free movement of people, you look to the Berlin Wall. That one, you may recall, relied on guard towers with machine guns, armed soldiers patrolling with dogs, and clear orders to shoot anyone trying to go over the wall.

    I hope few in America would want to emulate the East Germans, but the lesson is a secure border requires people patrolling it, perhaps sensors or cameras to tell them where to go. A mere wall won’t do much.

    Also, it would help a lot if the policy were not “keep everyone out.” As this merely gives people an incentive not to cross the border legally.

    1
  8. Teve says:

    @Michael Reynolds: yep. The Christians know this too!

    David Brody
    David Brody
    @DavidBrodyCBN
    If
    @SpeakerPelosi
    thinks her State of the Union stunt can outmaneuver
    @realDonaldTrump
    , she’s in for a rude awakening. Pelosi is playing checkers. Trump is playing chess.
    5:28 PM · Jan 16, 2019 · Twitter for iPhone

    In 12 months Master Negotiator Trump has talked Pelosi’s $25B offer all the way up to some unknown fraction of $1.375B.

    Remind me again how this guy bankrupted multiple casinos?

    3
  9. Facebones says:

    Well the majority of Americans didn’t vote for him to be president, either. So I wouldn’t count out another shutdown if President Coulter and VP Hannity object to him caving on the wall.

    (Remember, Fox News was telling us how Trump didn’t cave in January! This put him in the driver’s seat! He had all the cards! Now he gets even less for his wall than before, so I really am interested in which strain of wingnut wins out.)

    1
  10. Sleeping Dog says:

    …something that seems like it could spur each side to overlook imperfections in the what the negotiators have come up with…

    What the agreement is, is a perfect sausage. And the legislative process has worked as intended. Likely both chambers will approve this on a voice vote and if one demands a recorded vote, they maybe knifed behind a dumpster.

    2
  11. Jen says:

    @Kathy:

    I hope few in America would want to emulate the East Germans, but the lesson is a secure border requires people patrolling it, perhaps sensors or cameras to tell them where to go. A mere wall won’t do much.

    I believe the contingency that wants a wall has the East German functionality in mind. I lived in Germany and saw the Berlin Wall when it was up–and in most spots it wasn’t a single wall. It was two walls, with an open no-man’s-land in between, brightly lit all night with very high-powered lighting, razor wire at the top, and specially designed curved concrete at the top that made gaining purchase to get over all but impossible. And that was what it looked like wherever they could make that setup work. It was sad and terrifying. And even then, people figured out how to escape.

    Urban-to-urban settings are the most difficult areas to harden–there are lots of spots to hide and dart across if the barrier isn’t sufficient.

    2
  12. gVOR08 says:

    @Kathy: I recall reading somewhere that the Great Wall of China wasn’t built to keep out the Mongols. The Mongols may have been barbarians, but they could presumably whip up ladders and rope pretty easily. The real point was purportedly to keep out the Mongol’s horses. Horses don’t deal well with ladders and climbing ropes. And dismounted Mongols were probably easy pickings.

    So Trump’s wall makes perfect sense, should we be approached by a caravan of vaqueros.

    3
  13. Mister Bluster says:

    Constitution for the United States of America
    Article I, Section 5, Par.2
    Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

    This morning I heard Rep. Kay Granger (R Texas) say that it was fine by her if Trump circumvented congress to get funding for a border wall.
    How about the House sends her back to Texas by a majority vote instead of two thirds.

    United States Constitution. Who needs it?

    1
  14. Gustopher says:

    @Kathy: The Greeks were never able to breach the walls of Troy. We need to be careful of a caravan that leaves a giant Piñata at our border though.

    “The Mexicans have paid for the wall with this beautiful piñata, 120 feet tall. It’s the biggest piñata in the world, believe me.”

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  15. Kathy says:

    @Gustopher:

    Very few gods build walls any more these days for some reason 🙂

    Also, it would be terribly hard to burn down a whole country. Really, there are better things to do with one’s time.

  16. Slugger says:

    Government shutdowns are illogical. Somebody working in a national park, in a Coast Guard vessel, or at a TSA checkpoint has no power to enact laws. It makes no sense to squeeze them. The only sensible thing is for Trump and Pelosi to be locked in a cave without electricity or food. The one who leaves first loses. This should be quite acceptable to Trump for obvious reasons.

    1
  17. Teve says:

    The Hill is reporting that Trump is saying it would be harder to climb Mount Everest than to get over his new border wall.

    Is he sundowning? Is he just making fun of his supporters for being stupid? Who knows. Two years from now who cares.

  18. An Interested Party says:

    For a wall that was set up for the purpose of preventing the free movement of people, you look to the Berlin Wall. That one, you may recall, relied on guard towers with machine guns, armed soldiers patrolling with dogs, and clear orders to shoot anyone trying to go over the wall.

    I’m sure that Trump and many of his supporters wouldn’t mind that at all on the entire border with Mexico…

    The only sensible thing is for Trump and Pelosi to be locked in a cave without electricity or food. The one who leaves first loses. This should be quite acceptable to Trump for obvious reasons.

    Even though he would definitely lose that contest?

  19. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @gVOR08: Ayup, afraid so.

    ETA: On the other hand, it may simply be Mitt’s original 47%, and he was just wrong in identifying who they were. That would be bad.

  20. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Kathy:But you do haveta admit things is pretty dire here. I mean look: we got all them terrorist Mooslim fundamentals bringing bombs and guns and chemical weapons (of mass destruction no less) across the Sonoran desert, furrin wimmins is takin over the Congress, somewhere, at this very moment, some kid with a funny name is building a dirty bomb to blow up his school with. And that don’t even begin to deal with the problem of all them so-called dreamers (who never shoulda been gone to school to begin with) takin away a job that my kid don’t even want. Thangs is bad here. We need the wall.

    2
  21. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Gustopher: All we would need is the modern equivalent of Helen of Troy walking around, knocking on the sides, and asking “I wonder why it’s hollow inside.” Perhaps our own Kathy would play that role.

    1
  22. gVOR08 says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker: Perhaps so, given that it turned out there were 47% who WOULD vote for Romney.

  23. Kathy says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    Thangs is bad here. We need the wall.

    No doubt. But wouldn’t a psychiatrist be cheaper?

  24. Kathy says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    I’m flattered, but decades past being able to play the world’s most beautiful woman 🙂

  25. Gustopher says:
  26. Gustopher says:

    @Kathy:

    Also, it would be terribly hard to burn down a whole country. Really, there are better things to do with one’s time.

    Global warming will probably take care of burning down the country. I assume the piñata is filled with rapists, murderers, and probably a few good people.

    2
  27. Kathy says:

    @Gustopher:

    And drugs. You gotta have drugs.

  28. Kathy says:

    @Gustopher:

    Think about what a Megahelen looks like.