Fox News Host Asks Audience for Help 'Persuading' Americans that Donald Trump Is Right About Government Shutdown, Border Battle

A host of Fox & Friends—the Fox News morning program that's a favorite of President Donald Trump—asked a live audience for ideas about how to sell the president's shutdown fight on-air on Tuesday.

Host Brian Kilmeade approached the audience and wondered aloud if anyone had any novel ideas about how to get folks on-board amid the longest shutdown in U.S. history, sparked by Trump's demand for funding for his long-promised border wall.

Ina clip posted to Twitter by Matthew Gertz‏, who works for the liberal group Media Matters for America, Kilmeade said:

"So, I'm sure you guys have all seen the polls—the more generic polls—the Q polls, the Politico polls and they show—the Washington Post poll—that the president is losing this argument. And the gap is only widening. When he was in the Oval Office two-and-a-half weeks ago, he said 'It's on me.' And a lot of people, supporters, say 'I'm fine with that because it's worth it.' But the general population, people who maybe aren't as enthusiastic about politics, or as involved as you guys are, he seems to be losing the battle. Who here wants to weigh in on how we can start persuading those people that maybe didn't vote for him that this is the right fight?"

Kilmeade is correct that polling has shown Trump is losing the battle over the shutdown in voters' minds.

A Quinnipiac University poll released this week, for instance, showed that Trump was losing with voters on nearly every front when it came to the shutdown.

A majority of voters—63 percent to 30 percent—supported the Democratic party's plan to re-open the government sans border-wall funding. A majority of voters, 56 percent, blamed Trump and Republicans for the shutdown. A majority of voters—nearly 60 percent—did not think building the wall was a good use of taxpayer dollars.

"'Mr. President, it's on you,' voters say about the government shutdown, blaming President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans more than Democrats," Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll, said in a statement. "And while they believe there is both a humanitarian and a security crisis along the southern border, they absolutely don't think a wall will solve the problem."