CNN Poll Confirms Democrats Out Of Touch On Shutdown

by Thomas Phippen

Most Americans disagree with Democrats that getting funding for Dreamers is worth shutting down the government, according to a new CNN-SSRS poll released Friday.

Given a choice between funding the government and supporting illegal immigrants, more than half of respondents (56 percent) said that avoiding a government shutdown is more important than securing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that didn’t target children brought into the country illegally with deportation.

A bit more than a third of respondents (34 percent) said DACA, which expires in March, is worth shutting down the government midnight Friday.

Nearly half of respondents would place the blame for a shutdown on Republicans rather than Democrats, according to the poll. About 21 percent said President Donald Trump is to blame, 26 percent said Senate Republicans are responsible, and 31 percent said Congressional Democrats would be responsible for a shutdown.

CNN’s poll was conducted between Monday and Thursday, surveyed 1,005 people, and has a sampling error of plus or minus 3.7 percent.

A similar Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 48 percent believe the Republicans, including the president and congressional leaders, are to blame for the situation devolving into a likely shutdown.

Negotiations broke down, partially after reports that Trump asked senators why the U.S. would want more immigrants from “shithole” countries like Haiti and nations in Africa.

Senate Democrats indicated they would refuse to cross the aisle to fund the government, leading the White House to brand it the “Schumer shutdown” after New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader.

“The fact remains the only way to guarantee the legal status for DREAMers is to pass DACA protections into law and do it now,” Schumer said Wednesday. For that reason, a resolution to the DACA issue must be part of a global deal on the budget.

“There is no cause whatsoever for manufacturing a crisis and holding up funding for the vital services of the federal government,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.

Trump, on the other hand, has indicated in tweets as president, and during the last government shutdown in 2013, that perhaps a shutdown isn’t so bad.

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