Do Americans Support Trump Impeachment? What Latest Poll Shows About The Ukraine Scandal

A CNN poll released Tuesday indicates half of those polled support impeaching President Trump and removing him from office, up 3 points from a September poll and up 13 points since April.

The poll indicated 43% oppose impeachment and removal, down from a high of 59% six months ago, and 7% said they had no opinion. The results were in line with a Gallup poll last week that indicated 52% of those polled favored impeachment and removal from office, with 46% against.

The poll indicated sentiment for impeachment is way higher than that for other recent presidents. Thirty percent of those polled favored impeaching George W. Bush in September 2006 and 33% favored impeaching Barack Obama in July 2014. Only 29% favored impeaching Bill Clinton, who was impeached but not removed from office, in September 1998.

Fifty-seven percent of those polled said they disapprove of the way Republicans are handling the impeachment inquiry and 49% said they disapprove of the way Democrats are acting. Fifty-five percent said they don’t like the way the White House is handling it.

Asked whether they think Democrats are pursuing impeachment because they’re out to get Trump or because the president committed impeachable offenses, 42% supported the former and 48% the latter. Fifty percent said they think Republicans are out to protect Trump at all costs while 40% said the GOP is attempting to protect him because he did not commit impeachable offenses.

The poll, which queried 1,003 adults nationwide Oct. 17-20, also asked whether those queried approve of the job Trump is doing. Fifty-seven percent said no while 41% said they approve.

The survey indicated voters were split 40% to 41% on whether Rudy Giuliani had too much influence over Trump’s foreign policy decisions and were divided 49% to 43% over whether Trump’s dealings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were improper.

The poll has an error rate of 3.7%.

Elsewhere, Trump Tuesday characterized the impeachment inquiry as a “lynching.”

The tweet brought swift rebukes from several candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., called lynching a “reprehensible stain on this nation’s history,” and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., called lynching “an act of terror used to uphold white supremacy.” Booker advised Trump to “try again.”

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro said Trump’s word choice was “shameful.”

On Capitol Hill, William B. Taylor Jr., the acting ambassador to Ukraine, testified behind closed doors before House impeachment investigators. Taylor raised alarms in text messages to other diplomats about the holdup in military aid to Kyiv.

Investigators are trying to determine if Trump abused his power by withholding nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.