Do Americans Now Support Trump Being Removed From Office? What A New Poll Shows About Impeachment

A new Politico and Morning Consult poll conducted from Dec. 19 to Dec. 20 shows that 52% of respondents support the House of Representatives voting to impeach President Trump, with 43% against. The survey also shows that 52% of respondents approve of the Senate removing Trump from office, with 42% disapproving of the measure.

Politico and Morning Consult also asked respondents other questions regarding Trump’s job performance, with 41% of respondents approving of the job Trump is doing as President and 56% disapproving. Trump’s favorability on average has been consistently below 50% since March 2017, just weeks after he took office.

When it comes to federal elections, 22% of respondents said that economic issues such as taxes and unemployment were the top priority when casting a vote. Nineteen percent said security issues such as terrorism or foreign policy were important, with 17% saying health care was their top issue. Seventeen percent said senior issues such as Social Security and Medicare were their top priority when casting their ballots.

The poll is the first released since the House voted Wednesday to impeach Trump on two separate articles of impeachment: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Abuse of power refers to Trump’s pressure towards Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with Trump wanting Zelensky to conduct an investigation into Hunter Biden’s activities in the country. Hunter Biden is the son of Trump’s Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden. The move was considered an attempt to use the presidency to dig up dirt on a political opponent.

Obstruction of Congress refers to Trump’s unwillingness to cooperate with the impeachment probe and his direction to current and former executive branch officials to not comply with subpoenas to testify.

The next step in the impeachment process is the Senate trial, where Trump could be convicted and removed from the presidency. There needs to be 67 senators to convict.

Trump has frequently criticized impeachment as a partisan stunt and Friday called it a “Democrat disgrace.” He has also frequently called impeachment a “witch hunt” and a “sham.” The impeachment process started on Sept. 24, following an anonymous whistleblower complaint, and has featured hours of private and public testimony from government officials over Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.