Majority opposed to Trump emergency declaration ahead of key Senate vote: poll

A majority of voters oppose President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency at the southern border in order to secure funding for his proposed border wall, according to a poll released Wednesday.

A Politico–Morning Consult poll showed that 52 percent of voters are against the emergency declaration, an increase of 1 percentage point from a poll last month. Thirty-eight percent of those surveyed are in favor of the measure.

The latest poll was released one day before the Senate is scheduled to vote on a resolution to terminate Trump’s declaration. 

{mosads}Response to the emergency declaration falls along party lines, the poll found. Among Republicans, 80 percent are supportive of the declaration and 13 percent said they are against it, while just 10 percent of Democrats surveyed are in favor of the emergency declaration and 83 percent oppose it.

Among respondents who identified as independents, 30 percent are for the measure and 57 percent oppose it.

The poll surveyed 1,994 voters from March 8 to 10. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

The president issued a national emergency earlier this year to bypass Congress and spend roughly $8 billion to construct his long-promised border wall.

The national emergency has drawn pushback from both parties in Congress, with the House voting to approve a resolution that would terminate the emergency.

The Senate will vote on the resolution on Thursday. Republicans and the White House are in talks about an alternative option wherein Trump would sign legislation reining in a president’s power to declare future national emergencies if GOP senators defeat the resolution of disapproval.

Four Republican senators have said they intend to vote for the resolution, and several others have expressed concerns that the emergency declaration skirts congressional authority.