Poll: Americans increasingly blame Trump for the shutdown, 25 percent back his negotiating position


No one is "winning" the fight over President Trump's border wall and the partial government shutdown it sparked, but Trump is losing, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday ahead of Trump's Oval Office address. A 51 percent majority of American adults say Trump "deserves most of the blame" for the shutdown, up 4 percentage points from the previous poll, conducted right before Christmas. Another 32 percent place most of the blame with congressional Democrats and 7 percent mostly fault congressional Republicans — largely unchanged from the last poll.
And the wall itself is increasingly unpopular, except among Republicans, the poll found. Overall, 41 percent of Americans support more border fencing — a drop of 12 points from a similar poll an early 2015, before Trump made it central to his campaign — and 35 percent support a congressional spending bill that funds Trump's wall. Only 25 percent back Trump's decision to shut down parts of the government until Congress appropriates his nearly $6 billion down payment on the wall. Among Republicans, 77 percent said they want additional fencing and 54 percent backed Trump's negotiating position.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted in English Jan. 1-7 among 2,203 U.S. adults, and it has a credibility interval of 2 percentage points.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Qatar luxury jet gift clouds Trump trip to Mideast
speed read Qatar is said to be presenting Trump with a $400 million plane, which would be among the biggest foreign gifts ever received by the US government
-
Trump taps Fox News' Pirro for DC attorney post
speed read The president has named Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to be the top federal prosecutor for Washington, replacing acting US Attorney Ed Martin
-
Trump, UK's Starmer outline first post-tariff deal
speed read President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Kier Starmer struck a 'historic' agreement to eliminate some of the former's imposed tariffs
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'