Poll: Majority approves of Trump's impeachment
The new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll also shows an identical 52 percent would approve of the Senate voting to remove Trump from office.
Donald Trump
President Donald Trump. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
By STEVEN SHEPARD
12/20/2019 05:00 PM EST
A majority of voters approve of the House of Representatives’ impeachment of President Donald Trump earlier this week, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll conducted in the immediate aftermath of the vote.
The narrow majority who approve, 52 percent, is greater than the 43 percent who disapprove of the House voting to impeach Trump, the poll shows. Five percent of voters have no opinion on Trump’s impeachment.
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Support for impeachment breaks sharply among party lines. Among Democrats, 85 percent approve of the House’s action, and only 12 percent disapprove. Approval among Republicans is only 16 percent, compared with 81 percent who disapprove.
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Among independents, 48 percent approve of the House passing articles of impeachment and 41 percent disapprove.
After the House vote on Wednesday, the impeachment fight will move — eventually — to the GOP-controlled Senate, where Republicans are confident they can stop the charges in their tracks. But public opinion on whether to actually remove Trump from office is virtually identical: Fifty-two percent would approve of the Senate voting to convict Trump, while 42 percent would disapprove.
The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, conducted Dec. 19-20, is the first national survey to measure public opinion on the impeachment vote. Prior to the vote, POLITICO/Morning Consult polls showed slightly greater support for impeaching Trump than other public surveys.
The House voted Wednesday along party lines to charge Trump with two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — related to his efforts to pressure Ukrainian officials to open investigations that could boost his reelection campaign.
The timing of a Senate trial next year is still unclear, as House Democratic leadership has not moved to send the impeachment articles across the Capitol, hoping to secure guarantees from Senate GOP leadership over how the trial would be conducted. A majority of poll respondents, 54 percent, agree the Senate should call witnesses in the trial “because some White House staff refused to testify” during the House’s impeachment inquiry — twice the 27 percent who say the Senate shouldn’t call witnesses “because the relevant testimony and evidence was brought forth” during the House inquiry.
Trump’s impeachment is also being framed as a campaign issue, with Republicans crowing that vulnerable Democrats who voted for the articles of impeachment are sacrificing their reelection chances. In the poll, 43 percent of voters say they are more likely to vote for a member of Congress who supported impeachment, while 34 percent say they are less likely. Sixteen percent say a member’s vote on impeachment wouldn’t have an impact on their vote.
But among those who say they feel strongly, roughly as many are much more likely to vote for an impeachment-supporting member, 32 percent, as are much less likely, 30 percent.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/20/poll-trump-impeachment-088812