GOP pollster says most Americans would support deal including wall funding, DACA plan

Republican pollster Ed Goeas said on Wednesday that the majority of Americans would most likely support an immigration deal that provided wall funding, as well as support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy. 

“There’s kind of two things on the shutdown that [are] part of it. One is are you going to have money in there for the wall, and the Democrats want DACA for the people that have been brought here as minors,” Goeas, president and CEO of the Tarrance Group told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.” 

“Both arguments get about the same support, quite frankly,” he continued. “But they’re not talking to each other. They talking past each other…or not at all.” 

“Quite frankly if they came forward and they had both something for the wall, and they had something for DACA, which is where the Democrats started off, quite frankly, the overwhelming majority of the American public would support it,” he said. 

President Trump is demanding $5.7 billion for his long-promised wall along the southern border, but Democrats have refused to provide him with the funding, offering just $1.3 billion for border security measures.

The showdown over Trump’s demand led to the shutdown, which last lasted almost four weeks.

House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) told Hill.TV earlier this month that he would be open to a deal on border security that includes some sort of a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients. 

“I think a deal where there’s at least temporary working permits for Dreamers for several years, that kind of a relationship if you’re not going to solve the Dreamer problem for us, some amount of money for border security is an easy deal to make,” Yarmuth said. 

Other Democrats, however, have said the government must be re-opened before there can be a negotiation over the wall.

— Julia Manchester