While talks of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico border have led to televised shouting matches between national leaders, the rest of America is less divided. More than two-thirds of Americans don’t think the wall should be a priority, according to a new poll by NPR, PBS News Hour and Marist.
Only 28% of those polled answered that the border wall should be an immediate priority, while 19% replied it shouldn’t be an immediate priority, and 50% said it shouldn’t be a priority at all.
Of those polled, a vast majority of Democrats—91%—said they didn’t think the wall was an immediate priority or said it was not a priority at all, while 35% of Republicans held that view. Sixty-three percent of Republicans thought the wall was of immediate concern compared to 7% of Democrats.
During a meeting with congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer on Tuesday, President Donald Trump proclaimed that he was willing and would be “proud” to let the government shut down on Dec. 21 if Congress doesn’t include funding for a wall in a proposed deal. The plan Pelosi and Schumer presented to the president didn’t include the $5 billion Trump has requested. Schumer left the meeting saying there were many confusing and contradictory statements by the president.
It isn’t the first time Trump has threatened to shut down the government over border security.
Building a wall along the country’s southern border has been a mainstay of Trump’s campaign promises, however, a majority of Americans (57%) think Trump should compromise to avoid gridlock, poll findings revealed. Only 21% agree with Trump’s current tactic of not compromising in favor of building the wall.
Results by party lines show that this issue is more divided, with 71% of Democrats believing Trump should compromise and 65% standing by his decision to not budge on the issue.