A plurality of American voters say there is a crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border

A plurality of American voters said there is a crisis at the southern border, according to a new Morning Consult poll released Wednesday.

Taken in the days leading up to President Trump’s Oval Office address, the survey showed that 42 percent of voters said the issue of illegal immigration at the border constitutes a crisis.

An overwhelming majority of Republicans made up the partisan breakdown of that plurality, while an even split of independent voters — 37 percent — said it was either a crisis or at least a problem.

While not many Democrats agreed that the situation should be considered as serious as a crisis, more than half said the U.S. faces a problem from the southern border.

Only 12 percent of all voters who answered the poll said there isn’t some issue with illegal immigration.

In his Oval Office address Tuesday night, Mr. Trump reinforced his message that there is a humanitarian and security crisis at the border as he made his case for a border wall in any deal to reopen the federal government, which is under a partial shutdown.

The poll surveyed more than 1,900 registered voters over the course of two days, Jan. 4-6. There is a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.