New poll: Post-shutdown Trump is about as popular as pre-shutdown Trump – Washington Examiner

President Trump still demands $5.7 billion for his wall. Democrats continue to say they’ll be damned before they write that check. Government funding runs out Feb. 15, three weeks after Congress passed a short-term spending measure to end the longest shutdown in modern history.

There might not be enough time for both sides to come to a compromise. There is plenty of time for both sides to take stock of their positions after their last dust-up.

Almost 70 percent of Americans have a negative opinion of the state of the nation, according to a national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Six in ten think the country is headed in the wrong direction.

The pessimism is a product of the shutdown with 50 percent blaming Trump for letting the government go dark while 37 percent hold Democrats accountable.

Both sides will look at these numbers but Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., could come to radically different conclusions.

Post-shutdown Trump is just about as popular as pre-shutdown Trump. Despite 35 days without a fully funded government, furloughed federal employees, and backed up security lines at airports around the country, 43 percent of those surveyed approved of the president’s job performance. As the Wall Street Journal noted in their write up, that’s the same mark Trump made in a December survey taken 10 days before the shutdown.

These numbers are well within Trump’s usual range. His approval rating has never risen more than four points higher or dropped five points lower. The Wall Street Journal calls this resilience. Trump might look in the mirror, and consider it invincibility.

It is important to note, however, that the polling concluded before the shutdown ended and before Trump walked away without money for his wall. Hubris could easily cause Trump to overlook this fact.

Meanwhile, Pelosi also took a six-point hit on her net approval, ending up with a total positive 28 and total negative 47 percent, up from a net 13 percent negative in December. Look to these numbers to keep score before Round Two.