After President Donald Trump's insistence on southern border wall funding triggered the longest government shutdown in American history, the President caved with a continuing resolution to reopen the government until February 15.
The 35 day shutdown posed a serious threat to Donald Trump's approval rating among his base, compelling the Trump administration to achieve one of the President's foremost campaign promises of the 2016 election without forcing a shutdown.
The alternative isn't pretty.
Trump has previously floated the idea of declaring the situation at the southern border a national emergency, allowing funds previously approved for disaster relief to go instead toward building the wall.
The decision would be controversial to say the least, which is likely why a CBS News Poll shows that 66 percent of Americans think Trump should not declare a national emergency if Congress doesn't acquiesce to demands for a wall. Seventy-three percent of Americans believe that the President and Congress should instead keep negotiating while the government remains open.
Though the majority of Americans oppose declaring a national emergency, an overwhelming number of Republicans support it. Seventy-three percent of Americans on the right think that Trump should pursue the option if Congress doesn't agree to fund the wall. The party is more divided, however, on whether or not Trump should force another shutdown, with 50 percent believing he should and 50 percent believing negotiations should continue under an open government.
However, there is ample evidence to prove that the situation at the southern border—with illegal crossings at their lowest in decades—isn't an emergency at all.
Though many think that Trump will dismiss the polls, as they don't bolster his talking points.
Meanwhile, many Republicans are rabid for the President to build the wall.
Often citing erroneous and racially charged claims, many of the President's devout Twitter followers are urging him to follow up on the promise he made in 2016 by any means necessary.
