BORDER/CONGRESS/DEMS/GOVERNMENT/POLLS/SPENDING/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “If parts of the federal government shut down later this week, most voters will blame President Donald Trump and Republicans over Democratic minorities in Congress, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. The holiday brinkmanship in Washington comes as the government must approve a series of spending bills to stay open past Friday [12-21-18]. But Trump is feuding with Congress over the $5 billion he wants to fund construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. While Republicans control both chambers in Congress, any spending bill will require 60 votes in the Senate, where there are currently only 51 Republicans. Tuesday [12-18-18] brought some softening in the White House’s position, though a path to approving the must-pass spending bills was still unclear. Forcing a shutdown over border-wall funding would put Trump crosswise with public opinion, the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows. A majority of voters, 55 percent, say a wall along the border with Mexico is not important enough to shut down the government — far greater than the 31 percent who say it is important enough, the poll shows. There is some appetite among Trump’s base — 60 percent of GOP voters say a wall is important enough to warrant a shutdown, while 30 percent say it isn’t — for a fight over the wall, but both Democrats and independents are opposed by ratios of more than two to one.”
–Steven Shepard, “Poll: Voters would blame Trump, GOP for shutdown,” Politico, December 19, 2018 5:21 am