By Harry Enten

President Donald Trump is taking his case to the American people over why they should back him in the partial government shutdown.

His primetime address on Tuesday will be about the “Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border,” he tweeted. But Trump is facing an uphill climb: polls show a majority of Americans blame him and Republicans for the shutdowns, and the majority have also consistently been opposed to his idea of a border wall with Mexico.

The average of polls taken since the shutdown began indicate that Americans are blaming Republicans for the shutdown. In the average, about 50% think Trump is most to blame, 35% think congressional Democrats are most to blame and about 5% think congressional Republicans are most to blame.

When you combine all the numbers together, about 55% blame Republicans (either Trump or congressional Republicans) and about just 35% blame Democrats for the shutdown.

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The fact that Trump is losing the shutdown fight in the court of public opinion shouldn’t be a surprise. He came into the negotiations in a rather weak position.

Trump’s biggest issue is that he wants funding of a US-Mexico border wall. While that may be popular with his base, Americans have been consistently opposed to a border wall. Before the shutdown, they opposed it by about a 10-to-20 point margin. There’s no sign that’s changed in the latest polling.

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