A clear majority of Americans are against fronting the proposed $1 billion down payment in taxpayer funding for President Donald Trump’s controversial U.S.–Mexico border wall, a new survey found.
The survey, carried out by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and published on Thursday, posed several questions on the budget’s allocations to participants.
Trump’s budget scored big with the public for an increase in money for veteran programs, its $30 billion cash boost for the military, and cuts to foreign aid. However, it revealed most Americans do not support cuts to arts, environmental programs—52 percent to 28 percent—and public broadcasting services by 44 percent to 32 percent.
The key point of contention was Trump’s request for the taxpayer to front the first installment of the wall funding, which split the participants 58 percent to 28 percent. A big part of Trump’s campaign trail border wall pledge was that Mexico, not the U.S. would fund the border wall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEq4R57oPV8
The Trump administration projected the final cost to be as high as $20 billion, with independent assessments quoting much higher. At this stage, however, the White House budget requests $3 billion to bulk up border security plus a further $1 billion for fences and barriers.
The findings are timely, as the proposals face their first real congressional test. Senators are set to vote on a new spending bill that will keep government departments and services running. The current funding bill will end in April, and a replacement bill is required before then to prevent a federal government shutdown.
Republicans and Democrats alike have voiced a lack of enthusiasm over the proposed wall. While the Democratic minority have unanimously voiced opposition to the wall’s construction, only two in three Republicans outright support the idea—favorable but not as sizeable as on other key policy priorities, such as increased military spending.