Trump, Democrats and GOP draw disapproval over shutdown - CBS News poll
In a new CBS News/YouGov poll, President Donald Trump, congressional Democrats and congressional Republicans all draw lackluster marks for their handling of the government shutdown, with Americans expressing net disapproval for all three. Only about one-third approve (35 percent) of the president's handling of the shutdown, and a majority disapprove. Only about a third (33 percent) approve of the Democrats, while relatively more people are unsure.
Partisan splits are locked in: More than eight in ten Republicans approve of the president's handling of the shutdown, while seven in ten Democrats approve of congressional Democrats' handling.
Among all Americans, the president does draw relatively more of the blame for the shutdown in the first place: 47 percent blame the president and 30 percent blame the Democrats. Twenty percent blame the two, along with congressional Republicans, all equally. Independents are more apt to blame the president.
Two-thirds of Americans -- 67 percent -- oppose the idea of President Trump declaring a national emergency to pay for a wall if Congress doesn't fund one. Most Republicans (75 percent) do favor this idea. Most of them also favor a wall and view the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border as a crisis.
Six in ten Americans (62 percent) are very or somewhat concerned about the shutdown's impact on air travel and transportation, including 32 percent who are very concerned. Seventy-one percent are concerned about its impact on the economy, including 40 percent who are very concerned.
Democrats are relatively more concerned about these impacts, but many Republicans share these concerns, too. Eighty-three percent of Democrats are concerned about air travel, while 43 percent of Republicans are. Ninety-one percent of Democrats are concerned about federal employees and 58 percent of Republicans are, as well.
Republicans echo the president's language and describe what's happening on the border as a crisis. Democrats – and Americans overall – describe it as a problem, but not a crisis. And a majority of Americans oppose a border wall, though nine in ten Republicans favor one.
Americans rank the economy, health care and immigration about equally as the issues that the new Congress should focus on. Immigration is a top priority for Republicans, while health care is the top priority for the Democrats.
The CBS News survey is conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,470.
U.S. residents interviewed online between January 9-11, 2019. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 Presidential vote and registration status. Respondents were selected from YouGov's opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S residents. The margin of error is 2.9 percent.
