Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:50 pm
Donald Trump may think he is winning his shutdown battle but a new poll from POLITICO shows that with each passing day his disapproval ratings are skyrocketing to new heights.
People who participated in the poll say that Trump’s record-long government shutdown is bad for the country, and they are also increasingly concerned about Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Almost 60% of poll respondents said they disapprove of Donald Trump and his performance as president. This is in contrast to the meager 40 percent of voters who approve of what Trump is doing.
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Just as importantly, 54 percent of voters blame Trump and Republicans on Capitol Hill for the government shutdown compared to just 35 percent of voters who put the blame on Democrats in Congress.
As the shutdown nears completion of its fifth week — and as millions of Americans are affected by loss of income caused by the shutdown — neither side has indicated they are willing to give in.
No only has there has been no progress on shutdown negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, but leaders of the two parties and Trump are not even trying anymore. There really are no negotiations, as the parties have quit talking to each other. The only communication that resembles a dialogue occurs on Twitter where Trump keeps trying to blame Speaker Nancy Pelosi. For her part, Pelosi is being much more restrained than the president, but occasionally posts a tweet pointing out how many millions of people Trump is hurting financially.
There is also increasing concern that an extended government shutdown will harm the U.S. economy and help push it into a recession before the 2020 elections.
Despite this, Trump has not changed his demand of $5.7 billion for a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, which Democrats say they will never agree to.
Tyler Sinclair, who managed the poll for POLITICO, said:
“As the government shutdown enters its second month, President Trump continues to carry the bulk of the blame among voters for the stalemate. In this week’s poll nearly half of voters (49 percent) say the president is responsible — up 6 points since the shutdown began. At the same time, 35 percent of voters blame blame congressional Democrats, up 4 points, while 4 percent of voters blame congressional Republicans, down 3 points.â€
In addition 43 percent of voters are in favor of building a border wall while 49 percent are against it.
Just 7 percent of voters said that they are in favor of approving funding for a border wall if it is the only way to end the government shutdown. On the other hand, 72 percent oppose dedicating funding to a Mexican border wall if it is the only way to get the government to re-open.
When asked whether they would approve of dedicating money to border security, but not a wall, to end the shutdown, 34 percent were in favor of this while 51 percent were against it.
A majority of poll respondents also indicated that in their opinion Russia has incriminating information which they can use against Trump. Not only are they concerned about the results from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into collusion with Russia in 2016, but they are also concerned that Trump may be working for Russia.
The New York Times reported earlier this month that the FBI began investigating Trump due to evidence they had which caused them to suspect that he was acting as a Russian agent. The FBI probe began shortly after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey.
According to the new poll, 57 percent of voters believe it’s likely that Russia “has compromising information“ on the president, compared to only 31 percent who don’t think it’s likely they do.
The fact that Trump is continuing his government shutdown despite its increasing unpopularity shows how desperate he is. He knows that Mueller and House Democrats are coming for him, and his days in the White House are numbered. Apparently he has decided to do as much harm, and create as much chaos as he can, during the short amount of time that he has left in office.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
