INSIDER poll: Most Americans would not be OK with a government shutdown over the border wall
- Though most Americans find it unacceptable for the government to shut down under a united, one-party government, 40% of conservatives would be OK with it, according to a new INSIDER poll.
- Capitol Hill managed to avert an end-of-the-year shutdown caused, in part, by President Trump's demand for money to begging building the border wall.
- Last week, the president said he would be "proud" to shut down the government if Democrats did not agree to his demands for $5 billion for the wall.
Nearly two-fifths of conservatives think it would be acceptable (or very acceptable) for the government to shut down under a united, one-party government, according to a new INSIDER poll. Overall, 60% of respondents wouldn't tolerate a shutdown.
These figures come days after President Donald Trump said he'd be "proud" to shut down the government if the Democrats don't yield to him the $5 billion needed to begin building the border wall.
"If we close down the country, I will take it because we're closing it down for border security, and I think I'd do that every single time," Trump said at a bill signing ceremony last Tuesday. His comments came the same day he sat down in a very public meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Speaker of the House-designate Nancy Pelosi, where the president said he would take ownership of any shutdown.
Read more: The White House is suddenly backing down on its border-wall demands as a government shutdown looms
The White House has since softened its stance. This week, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration has "other ways that we can get to that $5 billion."
"At the end of the day we don't want to shut down the government, we want to shut down the border," she said.
But it seems like a good portion of Trump's base would be OK with a government shutdown. Nearly a quarter of conservatives said they don't hold a strong opinion over the shutdown, while 36% said a shutdown is unacceptable.
SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn't try to weight its sample based on race or income. Total 1,136 respondents, margin of error plus or minus 2.97 percentage points with 95% confidence level.