Poll: Arizonans do not support shutdown over border wall funding

PHOENIX — A new poll shows that most Arizonans do not support President Donald Trump’s decision to shut down the federal government over funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The shutdown has been in place since Dec. 22, as the president and Congress wrangle over his demand for the $5.7 billion he has said is needed to build the wall and secure the border.

The KTAR News/OH Predictive Insights poll of 1,246 Arizonans was conducted online from Jan. 8-10, with a margin of error of 2.78 percent.

Nearly 46 percent of those surveyed said they did not support Trump’s decision, while nearly 31 percent said they supported it. Almost a quarter said they had no opinion.

“We found in a recent poll that Arizonans actually do not support the government shutdown over funding a wall on our southern border, which is interesting given the fact that Arizona was the launching pad for President Trump’s campaign to now the White House,” Mike Noble, chief of research at OH Predictive Insights, told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

Among respondents who had an opinion, nearly 41 percent supported the shutdown over wall funding, while just under 60 percent opposed it.

The demographics that showed net support for the president’s decision were males beyond age 45.

“I think one of the interesting takeaways on this survey was actually that among males, the strongest category of support for the wall, was actually among males 55 and older,” Noble said.

“And actually where the biggest opposition, or strongest opposition, came from females 18 to 44 years old, so lukewarm with males, however, very bad among females.”

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday found that, nationally, 54 percent of Americans oppose building a border wall, while 42 percent support it.

The poll also shows that 53 percent of Americans blame Trump and the Republican party for the longest gap in federal funding in the country’s history, while 29 percent blame Democrats and 13 percent say both sides are equally at fault.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Sunday that he encouraged Trump to reopen the government for a short period and try to negotiate a deal with Democrats.

But, Graham said, Trump refused to give in on his wall funding demands and said he wants a deal before ending the shutdown.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, has said she wants Trump to end the shutdown first.

A KTAR News/OH Predictive Insights poll conducted in May 2017 found that nearly two-thirds of Arizona voters did not support a border wall.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ashley Flood and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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