A huge majority of the Republican Party supports President Trump’s handling of the partial government shutdown, according to a Huffington Post/YouGov poll released Thursday.
The poll reveals some deep divisions between Republican and Democratic voters.
A total of 84 percent of Republicans — 64 percent of whom strongly approve and 20 percent who somewhat approve — support Trump’s refusal to accept a funding bill that does not include more than $5 billion for enhancing security operations at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The gap is reversed on the other side, with 87 percent of Democrats unhappy with the Republican president’s behavior, according to the Dec. 22-23 poll of U.S. citizens.
[New: Trump threatens southern border closure amid partial government shutdown]
Overwhelming support for one’s party also exists among Democratic poll respondents who say members of their party have properly handled the shutdown, now in its sixth day.
While 69 percent of Democrats approve of the way congressional Democrats are handling the shutdown, more GOP voters indicated support their party’s president: 84 percent.
That party-line division isn’t reflected in the overall figures, which show 49 percent of all U.S. citizen adults blame Trump, compared with 40 percent who pointed to congressional Democrats and one-third who said congressional Republicans shouldered the blame.
A Dec. 21-25 survey conducted by Reuters/Ipsos found 47 percent blamed the Republican president compared to 33 percent who blamed Democrats in Congress. Another 7 percent said Republican lawmakers are at fault.
The new poll results are slightly higher than those reflected in a Morning Consult survey whose dates overlap with the first two.
In the Morning Consult questionnaire, 43 percent of registered voters faulted Trump for the shutdown. Trump said last week he was willing to leave one-quarter of the federal government without money in order to get a bill that included $5 billion for enhancing border security operations.
The Homeland Security, Justice, Agriculture, and Commerce Departments, as well as other agencies, ceased all nonessential operations last Saturday.
The House passed a bill that included $5 billion of a project estimated to cost $20-$25 billion. However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the upper chamber would not take up the funding bill because it included money for a wall.
Although Republicans have a majority in the Senate, they need 60 votes to clear the bill and no Democrats have indicated a willingness to cross the aisle.
The Reuters/Ipsos survey was conducted online among 2,440 U.S. adults, and it had a 2.4 percentage point margin of error.
The question from the Huffington Post/YouGov online poll was asked of half of the 1,000 total respondents. The survey had a 3.4 percentage point margin of error.
The Morning Consult online poll was taken among 1,992 registered voters nationwide and had a 2 percentage point margin of error.
