With Americans against the shutdown and against the use of emergency powers, Trump could compromise with Democrats. The issue for Trump is that he’s made politics all about his base, and, according to the ABC News/Washington Post poll, they don’t want him compromising.

Among Republicans who support the building of the wall, about 67% (two-thirds) believes he “should continue to demand funding for a border wall even if it extends the government shutdown”. Only about 25% (one-fourth) think he compromise on the wall in order to end the shutdown.

All of this negative polling also means that the Democratic-controlled House has no reason to give Trump his wall either. If anything, Democratic leaders face their own base that doesn’t want the wall (with over 80% opposition in recent ABC News/Washington Post, CNN and Quinnipiac polls). And while polling indicates Democrats may be more open to a compromise on the shutdown than Republicans, a majority of the Democratic base doesn’t want congressional Democrats to compromise (as measured by Democrats opposed to the wall even it means extending the shutdown).