WASHINGTON - While a new national poll shows only 43 percent of likely voters support using federal dollars to build “a wall or physical barrier along parts of our southern border to make it harder for people to enter our country illegally,” almost 90 percent believe “the Democratic leadership and President Trump should work together during 2019 to pass legislation that would improve other infrastructure.”

The poll was conducted January 23-24 by Rasmussen Reports for the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) and American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, Inc. The margin of sampling error for the poll is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.

Support for work this year on a broader, bipartisan infrastructure bill was expressed by 88 percent of both Republican and Democrat likely voters and 84 percent of those not aligned with either party.

“This survey demonstrates once again that public support for federal investment in traditional infrastructure programs is broad and transcends partisan politics and ideological divides,” ARTBA President & CEO Dave Bauer said. “A bipartisan bill that would make major new federal infrastructure investments would help break the policy gridlock in Washington and have overwhelming public support.”

“This poll shows that people overwhelmingly support Democrats and Republicans coming together to invest in the nation’s infrastructure,” said APTA President & CEO Paul P. Skoutelas. “Americans want to see a bipartisan bill with strong investments in public transit, and other crucial infrastructure because they know it will have wide-ranging benefits for workers, businesses, the economy, and their quality of life.”

The poll also provided insights on why support for a broad infrastructure initiative is so strong. Ninety-six percent of those surveyed agreed “improving infrastructure like our roads, bridges, public transit, water systems and the power grid” is either “very important” (62 and 64 percent) or “somewhat important” (34 and 32 percent) to both “future U.S. economic growth” and “the quality of life of our children and grandchildren.”

The poll showed support or opposition to using federal funds to build a border wall or physical barrier along parts of the southern border broke largely along political party lines. Seventy-seven percent of Republicans support and 80 percent of Democrats oppose. Non-aligned respondents broke 53 percent oppose/40 percent support.