Trump Impeachment Poll: More Americans Want Trump Ousted Than Clinton In 1999

The latest Gallup poll from January 2 to 15 reveals 44 percent of Americans approve of the job president Donald Trump is doing as president. That's only two percent shy of Trump's personal best of 46 percent in Gallup's polls, but is well below the historical average of 53 percent for all the post-World War II presidents before him.

An interesting backstory to Trump's latest approval rating, said Gallup, is the fact more Americans want to see the Senate remove Trump from office compared to Bill Clinton at this same time in his presidency after he was impeached by the Republican-controlled House on Dec. 19, 1998.

Gallup said several of its polls conducted in January and early February 1999 revealed 33 percent of Americans, on average, were in favor of the Senate convicting Clinton and removing him from office. On the other hand, 63 percent were opposed.

For Trump, the numbers in the Jan. 2 to 25, 2019 Gallup poll are 46 percent saying they're in favor of the Senate convicting Trump and removing him from office. Fifty-one percent are opposed to convicting Trump and removing him from office.

Gallup also noted some interesting parallels to Clinton's and Trump's Senate impeachment experience. In both Clinton's and Trump's cases, the president's party is about as opposed to impeachment for Trump as the Democratic Party was for Clinton. This time, however, the opposition party (the Democrats this time around) and Independents are more strongly aligned against Trump than they were against Clinton.

Gallup also noted only seven percent of Republicans today compared to eight percent of Democrats in 1999 wanted the Senate to remove a president of their own party. Its polls also reveal 65 percent of Republicans wanted Clinton removed. Today, 84 percent of Democrats want to see Trump kicked-out.

As for Independents in 1999, 32 percent wanted Clinton removed from office. In January 2020, 49 percent of Independents want Trump ousted.

In a commentary, Gallup noted Trump's impeachment has not had a noticeably negative effect on his popular support.

"In fact, for both presidents, impeachment had the opposite effect of increasing their public approval," said Gallup.

"Clinton registered a personal best 73% approval rating immediately after being impeached. Clinton's higher rating may also have been aided by U.S. airstrikes against Iraq that occurred at the same time as the House impeachment vote."

Boding ill for Trump is that his job approval ratings are nowhere near as high as Clinton's were during the latter's impeachment saga. Clinton's job approval ratings stayed in the mid- to high 60s during the Senate trial that subsequently led to his acquittal in the Democrat-controlled Senate.