A large majority of voters would prefer that congressional Republicans focus on issues other than President Trump’s border wall, according to a new poll conducted amid Trump’s threats to close the U.S.-Mexico border.
In a Hill-HarrisX survey conducted over the weekend, 69 percent of registered voters said they want Republicans on Capitol Hill to move on from the wall fight, while 31 percent said the GOP should keep pushing for more funding.
Following a prolonged standoff with congressional Democrats that led to a federal government shutdown, Trump signed a February budget deal that included $1.375 billion for new border barriers. In his recently submitted budget proposal, the president urged Congress to allocate an additional $8.6 billion funding for construction of border fencing. The administration has also announced that it will be re-allocating several billion dollars for military construction projects toward border barriers.
“I think it’s really interesting that even the president is finding that the wall is wearing thin on the public,” Democratic pollster Celinda Lake said Monday on “What America’s Thinking,” Hill.TV’s show about trends within public opinion.
Self-described “strong conservatives,” at 73 percent, were the only demographic group that overwhelmingly wanted GOP lawmakers to keep trying to increase border wall funding. Voters who said they “leaned conservative” were evenly split, at 50 percent.
Fifty-nine percent of GOP voters support pushing for more funding, a position shared by 32 percent of independents and 6 percent of Democratic respondents.
“The really interesting number is that 40 percent of Republicans who say, ‘Get on with other things,'” Lake said. “There isn’t a single demographic group that supports the wall or that as a priority. It’s truly driven just by strong conservatives.”
Dan Cox, a research fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, agreed.
“Trump’s entire immigration agenda has never been that popular except among Republicans,” he told “What America’s Thinking” host Jamal Simmons on Monday.
Female and male respondents expressed similar views in the survey, with 71 percent of women saying Republicans should turn their focus away from border wall funding and 67 percent of men agreeing.
Younger voters were most likely to want the GOP to move to other issues, but respondents in all age groups favored a pivot.
Eighty-four percent of voters between 18 and 34 wanted Republicans to stop seeking more border wall funds, as did 65 percent of voters between 35 and 49 and between 50 and 64. Among voters 65 and older, 61 percent said congressional GOP members should move on, while 39 percent wanted them to keep seeking more border wall funding.
—Matthew Sheffield
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