On Eve of Historic Vote, Just 38% Support Trump’s Emergency Declaration

Senate Republicans have just 24 hours to come up with a workable solution to stop a Democratic-backed resolution that chastises President Donald Trump for declaring a national emergency. Not helping their plight is the fact that by a wide majority American voters continue to oppose his declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the disapproval resolution Thursday, and at least four Republicans have announced they will join all 47 Democrats to pass the House measure that block’s Trump’s emergency declaration to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Republicans are scrambling and looking for an eleventh-hour solution. They are very near to being forced into an unwanted showdown with the president, who has threatened to veto the resolution of disapproval if it passes the Senate and is brought to him for signature.

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The new poll shows that Trump has failed to build support for his declaration in the face of congressional opposition.

Only 38 percent of voters support the declaration, the poll shows, one percentage point less than three weeks ago.

In the new poll, 52 percent of voters oppose Trump’s emergency declaration, up 1 percentage point from last month’s poll.

The House already approved a resolution to terminate Trump’s emergency declaration. And even though the Senate is expected to do the same on Thursday, both chambers do not have sufficient votes to override a Trump veto. And the president has said in very clear terms that he will veto the resolution.

American voters’ opinions with respect to Trump’s national emergency declaration fall along party lines: just ten percent of Democrats are in favor of it, while 83 percent oppose it.

Among Republicans, 80 percent support the national emergency declaration and just 13 percent oppose it.

Among the crucial block of independent voters, there is bad news for Trump and the Republicans: Independents oppose  the declaration by a nearly 2 to 1 margin, with just 30 percent supporting it and 57 percent opposing it.

Overall, 33 percent of voters said they would be more likely to vote for their senators or representatives if they supported Trump’s emergency declaration. But a significantly larger number, 45 percent, said they would be less likely to support any member of Congress who backed the declaration. Just 11 percent said it wouldn’t make a difference, showing that most people have an opinion on the matter.

Leo Vidal

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.