WASHINGTON – More than 60 percent of Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build a wall along the U.S. southern border, according to a Tuesday poll.
Sixty-one percent disapprove and 36 percent approve of Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency in order to build a border wall, a Tuesday NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll reveals.
The poll follows the president’s Feb. 15 declaration of a national emergency that will allow construction on the proposed wall to begin. President Trump also announced a compromise on funding, which includes $1.375 billion in funds appropriated by Congress. The border deal will total roughly $8 billion.
The government closed from Dec. 22, 2018 to Jan. 25, marking the longest shutdown in U.S. history, at 35 days. Trump reopened the government from Jan. 25 until Feb. 15 in order to work a funding deal for the border wall.
“All things related to the declaring of a national emergency, the president is striking out in the court of public opinion,” said Marist Institute for Public Opinion director Lee Miringoff, National Public Radio reported Tuesday. “He’s [Trump] maintaining his base and little else.”
Republicans and Democrats approve and disapprove of the wall, respectively, in nearly identical percentages: 85 percent of Republicans approve of Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency in order to protect the border, whereas 84 percent of Democrats disapprove of Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency in order to build a wall.
Fifty-eight percent of Americans don’t think there’s actually a national emergency along the border, and 57 percent of Americans say Trump is abusing his presidential power by declaring a national emergency.
The pollsters surveyed 807 adults between Feb. 15 to Feb. 17. The margin of error is 4.6 percentage points.
Border wall apprehensions rose 61 percent in the first quarter of 2019, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Sixteen states filed a lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California challenging Trump’s declaration of a national emergency. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra spearheaded the lawsuit.
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