Poll: Americans are becoming more polarized on the border wall

Twenty-six days into what has become the longest government shutdown in US history and Americans still don’t think the border wall would be worth it.

Only 29 percent of Americans think it would be “unacceptable” to reopen the government without substantially expanding physical barriers on the southern border with Mexico, a new Pew Research Center survey conducted from January 9 to 14 shows. Meanwhile, 58 percent of Americans still oppose the border wall altogether.

Congress let funding for nine federal departments expire on December 21, and there’s no sign of a deal to fund them. The conflict boils down to President Donald Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion in funding to begin construction on a southern border wall — a campaign rallying cry that doesn’t have enough support in Congress to pass or backing among the American people.

The Pew survey is consistent with polling on the government shutdown so far, which has shown Trump’s approval rating plummeting.

Notably, however, the shutdown has pushed Republicans and Democrats further apart on border security policy. Support for the border wall among Republicans is at an all-time high, Pew found. Over the past year, support for the wall among Republicans increased from 72 percent to 82 percent — where it is today. And fewer Democrats support the idea. The percentage of Democrats who favored expanding physical barriers on the US-Mexico border has declined from 13 percent to just 6 percent.

This survey goes a long way toward explaining why Democrats and Republicans are having trouble coming together to end this shutdown.

Trump’s position on border security — deeply rooted in a hardline anti-immigration worldview — is at odds with that of the majority of Americans. But it is one that has become hardened within his base. Which is also why Republican lawmakers, who have the power to end the shutdown without Trump, are therefore reluctant to break with the president. Democrats, meanwhile, are standing with the masses.

The political incentives to compromise are next to none. And as a result, hundreds of thousands of federal employees are going unpaid. Basic government functions, like maintaining national parks and inspecting the national food supply for disease, have been halted or dramatically reduced. Funding for key safety nets, like food aid, will run out in a couple of months.

And still the shutdown drags on.