Poll: Majority of GOP say shutdown is ’embarrassing for the country’

A majority of Republicans in a new survey say the partial government shutdown is “embarrassing for the country.”

The new NPR/Ipsos poll reports that three-quarters of all respondents believe the ongoing shutdown is “embarrassing.”

As the shutdown nears the end of its third week, it is now tied for the longest in U.S. history.

{mosads}Nearly 70 percent of respondents in the survey said the shutdown is going to hurt the country and the economy. The same portion of respondents say Congress should pass a bill to reopen the government now, while only 30 percent believe the government should stay closed until there is funding for a border wall.

President Trump has demanded more than $5 billion for a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and has said he would not sign a funding bill unless the money is included.

Democrats, who now hold a majority in the House, do not appear willing to appease Trump’s demand.

Trump gave his first prime-time Oval Office address Tuesday night on the issue, though only 10 percent of survey respondents said it brought the country closer to ending the shutdown.

Nearly 40 percent said they did not watch the address. Only 38 percent call the situation at the border a “crisis,” as Trump did repeatedly during his speech.

Roughly two-thirds of respondents who identify as Republican said Trump’s speech helped convince them that there is a need for a border wall and that there is a crisis.

The president has said he will move to declare a national emergency over the border if talks with Democrats fail to move forward.

The survey consists of 1,003 adults and was conducted online by Ipsos Jan. 9-10. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.