Trump Impeachment Poll: 57% Of Americans Want New Witnesses At Senate Trial

A new survey from opinion poll analysis firm FiveThirtyEight and global market research company Ipsos says 57 percent of Americans think Trump committed an impeachable offense in the Ukraine scandal. The same percentage also said it will be better if the upcoming Senate trial included new witnesses who did not appear during the impeachment process in the House. They believe these witnesses can shed light on Trump’s criminal misconduct.

The survey shows 52 percent think Trump’s actions in the Ukraine quid pro quo imbroglio and his refusal to cooperate with the House's impeachment inquiry are enough evidence to remove him from office. It also reveals most Americans want the Senate impechment trial to expand on the evidence in the impeachment articles. The survey noted 57 percent of respondents were united in their consensus about wanting a Senate trial with new witnesses.

On the other hand, the poll reveals 39 percent of respondents saying it will be better for the Senate to keep its focus solely on the evidence introduced in the House hearings over the past two months and included in the articles of impeachment -- but without calling new witnesses. The divide on this issue was again along party lines with 65 percent of Democrats saying they support calling new witnesses in the Senate trial.

Surprisingly, 48 percent of Republicans also support calling new witnesses. Another 50 percent, however, still want the Senate trial to proceed with only the evidence introduced in the House impeachment inquiry.

FiveThirtyEight warned this consensus on calling new witnesses means different things to Democrats and Republicans and isn't indicative of any move towards greater bipartisanship. Democrats want Senate Republican leaders to call senior White House officials like former national security advisor John Bolton and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who are both involved in the freezing of U.S. military aid to Ukraine and the follow-up moves to get the freeze lifted.

For Republicans, witnesses mean only two things: former vice president Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. The GOP continues to push the conspiracy theory the elder Biden had a Ukrainian prosecutor fired while Hunter was involved in massive corruption during his stint as a director in Ukrainian energy firm, Burisma.

The source also said there has been a significant shift against Trump among those less certain about whether he committed an impeachable offense. It said these people are more likely to change their minds on whether Trump should be impeached and removed from office.

This new survey shows 81 percent of respondents that think Trump committed an impeachable offense are certain of their view. On the other hand, the share of respondents that think Trump’s conduct isn’t impeachable remains at 72 percent, and hasn't moved.