Trump rams into wall: US shutdown weakened US president’s position, says poll

Washington, Jan 26: US President Donald Trump on Friday, January 25, signed a deal to end the longest government shutdown in the history of the US albeit temporarily. He said the shutdown was ended till February 15 and would resume if there was "no fair deal from the Congress".

The president and the Congress locked themselves in a stalemate over funding of the former's pet wall project along the border with Mexico to prevent illegal immigration.

However, the end of the shutdown was being seen as a loss for Trump with many holding him and his Republican Party responsible for the crisis.

According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll, only 37 per cent of Americans now approve of Trump's act while 58 per cent do not. A previous poll by the same combination had shown Trump's net approval rate at minus 13 points. It has now gone up to minus 21 points, CNN reported.

"Trump lost the shutdown fight. The ABC News/Washington Post poll is merely the latest to show that Trump's approval rating was plummeting.

In average of all recent polls, Trump's net approval rating had dropped 6 points compared to before the shutdown," the CNN reported.

It also said that the more the shutdown persists, the worse it gets for Trump. The ABC News/Washington Post found 53 per cent of the respondents blaming Trump and the Republicans in the Congress for the shutdown while only 34 per cent felt Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats were at fault.

Pelosi, who recently took over as the speaker for the second time, was actually found to be gaining in popularity compared to her ratings before the shutdown began.

CNN also said that Americans who were against the wall before the shutdown did not change their stance even during or after the end of the shutdown. It cited pollsters to say that while Americans were against the wall by a 15-point margin before the drama began, the margin remained the same even now.

It was also reported that as a result of the crisis, the Democrats started to gain on issues related to immigration, something which is considered to be a forte for the Republicans.