So what’s going on with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)? Fresh off the end to the government shutdown, the Democratic leader has renewed her invitation to President Trump to come to the House of Representatives to give the State of the Union Address. Previously, she made it clear that Trump was not welcome to make his speech in Congress, but it seems that political pressures have motivated her to change her mind.

While the government was still in the partial shutdown, Pelosi refused to allow the president to give his speech, citing “security concerns” despite the fact that the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service both stated that they were ready and able to secure the event. Now that the federal government is back in business — at least for three weeks — Pelosi has agreed to allow Trump to give his presentation to the nation on Feb. 5.

Pelosi’s Plummeting Popularity

NBC News and the Wall Street Journal recently released the results of a poll revealing that Speaker Pelosi’s approval rating has taken a drastic downturn. According to the study, the rating fell by six points over the course of the shutdown while the president’s remained the same.

Interestingly enough, the portion of those who “strongly approve” of Trump’s job performance increased to 29%, which is two points higher than it was before the shutdown. But the fact that Pelosi’s approval rating is declining is puzzling, given the fact that the majority of the country blames Trump for the shutdown, not her. So why is it? There could be a number of reasons Pelosi has fallen in the public eye.

A significant number of Democratic lawmakers were willing to compromise on the wall funding, even if they weren’t crazy about erecting a physical barrier on the border. It is likely that their constituents feel the same way; they may not believe that a wall is necessary, but giving the president his $5.7 billion to end the shutdown wasn’t unreasonable.

Chances are that most Democratic voters aren’t as gung-ho about opposing Trump as Pelosi and the rest of the left-wing old guard, and they would have been more than willing to see the Democrats get more concessions from the president even if it meant funding the barrier. It’s not hard to imagine how much they could have done for DACA recipients if their leaders actually took the issue seriously. Perhaps Pelosi is simply trying to get back in the good graces of her party, many of whom are not happy about her approach to this situation.

If there is a contingent of Democrats who are willing to make deals with the GOP, it could make life harder for the speaker, whose only objective appears to be obstructing Trump’s agenda. This means the Democratic Party could lose out on other compromises due to Pelosi’s stubbornness. If this is the case, She will need to do more than make feeble overtures toward the president if she wants to remain in power.