Sunday December 22, 2019
Nicholas Wu
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President Donald Trump. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Following the House of Representatives' vote to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, a new poll from Politico and Morning Consult shows a majority of respondents supporting the articles of impeachment, Trump's impeachment and his removal from office.
Democrats accuse Trump of abusing his power by pressuring the government of Ukraine to open politically motivated investigations by withholding nearly $400 million of military aid and an Oval Office meeting. The second charge, obstruction of Congress, stems from Trump's stonewalling of House Democrats' investigation.
In the first poll to be conducted following the House's passage of impeachment articles, 52% of respondents said they supported the Houses' articles of impeachment, with 43% opposing. Similarly, 52% of respondents said they support Trump's impeachment and removal from office, while 42% disapproved.
A USA TODAY/Suffolk poll conducted before the impeachment votes found Americans opposing Trump’s impeachment and removal by a slim margin: 51% of voters opposed a vote to convict in the Senate, and 45% approved. Support for the articles breaks mostly along party lines, much like the near Democrat-Republican split that occurred when the House voted to pass the articles on Wednesday.
Almost all Democrats voted for both articles, with all Republicans voting against them. Only one member, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, voted "present" on the articles, which is equivalent to abstaining.
In the Politico/Morning Consult poll, 85% of Democrats approved of the House's passage of articles, whereas only 16% of Republicans approved.
The articles now move to the Senate, which will hold a trial in early 2020 to determine whether Trump should be removed from office. Removal from office requires a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate, a higher bar than the majority need in the House to impeach him.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled he wants as speedy a trial as possible to acquit Trump, telling reporters last week he was "not an impartial juror," since impeachment was a political, not a judicial process.
Senate Democrats, on the other hand, want to be able to call witnesses and enter new documents during the record as they try to press their case against Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested this week that the House would withhold transmission of the articles of impeachment to the Senate until they determined what format the Senate trial would take.
McConnell said Thursday that negotiations with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer over a Senate trial were at an "impasse."
A majority of the poll's respondents believed the Senate should call more witnesses during the trial given the failure of some witnesses to testify during the impeachment inquiry.
Fifty-four percent supported the calling of more witnesses, 27% said the Senate should not call more witnesses, and 19% didn't know or had no opinion.
One member of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, D-N.J. changed parties following the House's vote to approve impeachment articles in part over the issue, but the poll's respondents said they would be more likely to vote for a representative or senator who supported impeachment. Van Drew had opposed impeachment and voted against the articles.
Forty-four percent of respondents said a vote for impeachment would make it more likely for them to vote for their representative, with 34% saying it would make them less likely.
Forty-one percent said it would make them more likely to vote for their senator, and 36% said it would make them less likely to do so.