POLL: Republicans Still Want the Wall, Even if it Means a Government Shutdown

A Morning Consult/Politico poll released Wednesday showed a majority of Republican voters would support a federal government shutdown if it could deliver the signature Trump promise of a southern border wall.

The poll shows 51 percent of Republican respondents supported forcing a shutdown to fund the wall, with 26 percent of those strongly supporting such a measure. The corresponding figures for all voters were 28 and 14 percent respectively, reflecting strong opposition from Democrats and independent voters.

Among “Tea Party Supporters” there was even greater acceptance of the idea of a shutdown to build the wall, with 55 percent somewhat or strongly in support. Only 45 percent of self-identified “Conservatives,” however were similarly on board.

Republicans were united with other Americans in expressing generalized concern over a shutdown, with 72 percent of GOP voters saying they were somewhat or very concerned with the prospect of a shutdown.

Morning Consult quotes Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) as opposing any such shutdown. “I don’t think a government shutdown is necessary, and I don’t think most people want to see a government shutdown, ourselves included,” Ryan said this month.

The same poll puts popular support for Ryan’s leadership 38 percent among all voters and at 62 percent among Republicans, of whom only 19 percent strongly support the Speaker. Tea Party supporters and Conservatives were less enthused than the party at large, with only 57 and 54 percent of each respectively supporting Ryan.

Republican support for the wall in general remains robust, with 39 percent calling it a “top priority” and an additional 30 percent saying it is an “important, but lower” one. Only 12 percent of Republican voters oppose the wall.

Even among the population at large, opposition to the wall is firmly in the minority, with only 38 percent of total respondents saying building the wall “should not be done.” Thirty-nine percent, meanwhile called building the wall a top or important priority, and an additional 16 percent said it was “not too important a priority.”