新民调：大多数美国人不想为特朗普修边境墙埋单

美联社和从事公共事务研究的芝加哥大学国家民意研究中心上周四公布的民意调查结果显示，大多数美国人反对从出资修建唐纳德·特朗普总统提出的美墨边境墙。不过特朗普在加强国防和边境巡查方面的支持率仍然很高。

调查还显示，很多特朗普的支持者也反对他削减科学和医学研究预算。

本次调查结果出炉的时间很关键。共和、民主两党议员正就预算支出项目展开激烈辩论，只有通过预算项目才能确保政府支撑到月底。讨论项目包括美墨边境墙首付款。虽然特朗普反复承诺将由墨西哥承担边境墙建设费用，但现在看来还是要花美国纳税人的钱。

本次调查显示人们对特朗普的预算计划态度不一，两党议员对预算计划批评也不少。受访者对减少对外援助表示支持，但反对特朗普削减环境和气候变化支出。对于联邦政府减少支持公共广播电视和艺术的动议，人们也是反对多支持少，绝大多数人都支持为退伍军人事务提供更多资金。

77岁的佛罗里达州罗德岱尔堡人玛格丽特·霍尔支持特朗普，她说：“军队亏空巨大，严重影响到了退伍军人。”

特朗普的开支方案就要在国会接受首次考验，议员们正在讨论他提出的要求，包括立即为军队拨款300亿美元，以及为边境安全增加30亿美元预算，其中包括新建美墨边境墙以及其他屏障的10亿美元首付。

受访者反对为边境墙增加支出，反对和赞成的比例为58%对28%。近一半的受访者表示强烈反对。

61岁的韦斯·德劳特来自伊利诺斯州温纳贝戈，是一名消防员兼护理人员，他非常不喜欢特朗普。德劳特说：“坦白地说，我觉得建这堵墙最后一定会失败。不管你造什么，想来美国总能找到办法。如果真想采取什么措施，就加强边境巡查吧。不是想创造就业机会吗，这就是啊。”

民主党方面强烈反对修建边境墙，一些共和党人士则表示无意为此争执。

亚利桑那州拥有美国最坚固的边境，该州共和党参议员杰夫·弗莱克说：“我不喜欢这个想法，也没必要把希望寄托在一堵2000英里长的墙上。根本没有这个必要。有些地区什么都不需要，有些地区需要造墙，有些地区需要栅栏，有些地区只需要监控。”

国土安全部长约翰·克里上周三在国会表示，美墨边境墙不会从“横贯整个边境”，只会在边境管理部门认为需要的地方修建。他说这个项目不光是一堵墙，还包括一系列技术手段，比如无人机。

86%的民主党成员和57%的独立人士反对为美墨边境墙增加支出。共和党内支持和反对此事的比例为2比1，但低于其他事项上的支持率。

在特朗普的预算案中，最受支持的建议是增加退伍军人事务部的预算，74%的受访者都表示赞同，反对者仅占8%。

同时，对增加边境巡查预算（50%支持，32%反对）和减少对外援助（50%支持，30%反对）美国人表示大多赞成，反对者并不多。支持率（47%）高于反对率（34%）的还有增加国防开支和军费。

但人们对特朗普其他一些预算建议持反对态度。反对削减科学和医学研究预算的呼声最高，64%的受访者持反对态度，支持者占19%。这和共和、民主两党议员的态度一致，其中包括参议院多数党领袖、肯塔基州共和党参议员米奇·麦康奈尔。他是关键人物，因为总统提议是预算蓝本，编制预算的工作具体由国会负责。

大多数受访者还反对削减环境和气候变化支出，反对-支持比例为58%对28%。最后，美国人很可能反对减少公共广播电视开支，表示反对的人占44%，支持者占32%。

绝大多数议员都赞成增加退伍军人事务支出，共和党人尤其支持。削减科学和医学研究开支的建议遭到全面抵制，78%的民主党人、58%的独立人士和51%的共和党成员都反对。

此外，有几项预算建议引发了很大分歧。75%的共和党人支持增加军队预算，独立人士和民主党中支持的只占40%和26%。对于增加边境巡查开支，共和党、独立人士和民主党内的支持率分别为80%、49%和26%。72%的共和党人和54%的独立派支持削减对外援助，但民主党内的支持率只有30%。

美联社和国家民意研究中心于3月23日-27日对1110名成年人进行了调查，样本由国家民意研究中心的AmeriSpeak小组基于概率选取，旨在尽可能体现美国民意。受访者的抽样误差为正负4个百分点。

本次调查方式包括网络、固定电话和手机。（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审校：夏林

Most Americans oppose funding President Donald Trump's wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a poll released Thursday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The president gets higher marks for efforts to boost defense spending and beef up the border patrol.

Even many of Trump's supporters reject his proposed budget cuts to scientific and medical research, the poll found.

The poll results come at a crucial time. Congressional Republicans and Democrats are wrestling over whether to include a down payment for the wall — financed by U.S. taxpayers instead of Mexico, despite Trump's repeated promises — in the spending bill to keep the government open at the end of the month.

The poll offers a mixed view of Trump's budget plan, which drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill. Americans supported cuts to foreign aid, but opposed Trump's planned cuts to spending on environmental programs and fighting climate change. People were more likely to oppose than favor cutting federal help for public broadcasting and the arts and by huge margins supported additional money for veterans' programs.

"The military is depleted, and the veterans have been hurting," said Margaret Hall, 77, a Trump supporter from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Trump's spending plans are facing their first test on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers debate his request for $30 billion for an immediate cash infusion for the military and $3 billion for additional border security, including a $1 billion down payment for new fencing and other barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The public opposes new spending for the wall, 58 percent to 28 percent. Nearly half say they strongly oppose funding for the project.

"I honestly think the wall is going to be a fiasco. If they want to get into the country, they're going to get into the country, regardless of what you put up there," said Wes Drought, 61, a firefighter and paramedic from Winnebago, Illinois, who strongly disapproves of Trump. "If you're going to do something, do it with the border patrol. If you want to create jobs, there's a job."

Democrats have come out strongly against the wall construction, and some Republicans are signaling they're not interested in a confrontation.

"I don't like the concept — I don't think it's needed — of a 2,000-mile wall as some envision," said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., whose state is home to some of the most rugged terrain along the border. "It's just not needed. In some areas you just don't need it. In some areas you need wall, in some areas you need fences. In some areas you need surveillance."

Testifying on Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said the wall won't be from "sea to shining sea," but in places where border agents say it would be most effective. He said the wall could extend beyond a physical barrier and include a mix of technology including drones.

Eighty-six percent of Democrats and 57 percent of independents oppose new spending for a border wall with Mexico. Republicans break about 2-1 in favor of the wall, but that's more narrow support than on other priorities.

The most popular proposal by far in the Trump budget is increasing spending on Veterans Affairs, which is supported by 74 percent of Americans and opposed by just 8 percent.

Americans are also more likely to favor than oppose increased spending on border patrol (50 percent to 32 percent) and decreased spending on foreign aid (50 percent to 30 percent). By a 47 percent to 34 percent margin, more also favor than oppose increasing spending on defense and the military.

But other pieces of the proposed Trump budget draw negative reviews. By a 64 percent to 19 percent margin, most oppose decreasing spending on scientific and medical research. That's a complaint echoed by Republicans and Democrats in Congress, including the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who holds significant sway as Congress uses the president's proposal as a blueprint but writes the budget.

Most Americans also oppose cuts to spending on the environment and on climate change, by a 52 percent to 28 percent margin. Finally, Americans are more likely to oppose than favor cutting spending for public television, radio and the arts, 44 percent to 32 percent.

Large majorities across party lines favor increasing Veterans Affairs spending, although Republicans are particularly supportive. And decreasing spending for scientific and medical research is largely opposed across party lines, by 78 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of independents and 51 percent of Republicans.

But there are large political divides on several other pieces of the budget proposal. Seventy-five percent of Republicans but just 40 percent of independents and 26 percent of Democrats favor increased military spending. Eighty percent of Republicans and 49 percent of independents, but just 26 percent of Democrats, favor increased border patrol spending. And 72 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of independents, but just 30 percent of Democrats, favor decreased foreign aid spending.

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The AP-NORC poll of 1,110 adults was conducted March 23-27 using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.

Interviews were conducted online and using landlines and cellphones.