Poll: Momentum grows for Donald Trump to be impeached and removed from office

Support across the country is building for President Donald Trump to be impeached and removed from office, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.

The national survey of self-identified registered voters released Monday shows Americans are hotly divided on the issue, with an even split of 47 percent. Despite the division, the poll revealed surging support for impeachment, with a 20-point gap in support closed since Quinnipiac asked voters the same question last week.

Last week, 57 percent of respondents said they opposed impeaching and removing Trump, while 37 percent supported it.

The latest groundswell of support largely comes from Democrats, whose support rose from 73 percent to 90 percent. Meanwhile, the proportion of independents backing impeachment grew from 34 percent to 42 percent.

The poll found that a slim majority of registered voters — 52 percent — approve of the impeachment inquiry opened by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Even so, many Americans are reserving judgment until more facts emerge.

“We are seeing voters signal more facts need to be discovered,” said Mary Snow, polling analyst for Quinnipiac University. “Among people who said the president should not be removed, a majority felt that way because they don’t think it’s been shown yet.”

Of the people opposed to impeachment and removal, nearly two-thirds said it hasn’t been shown he did anything serious enough, while one in ten respondents said they oppose it just because it’d be too disruptive.

Troubling for Democrats pursuing impeachment is the fact that a strong majority said members of Congress are pursuing impeachment more on the basis of partisan politics than facts.

Freshman Democrats from vulnerable districts in California have stepped forward in support of an impeachment inquiry Pelosi opened last week.

Shortly thereafter, the White House released a memo outlining some of Trump’s comments to Ukraine’s new president. In the call, Trump asked for a “favor” and said he wanted the new leader to investigate dubious claims against the son of former vice president Joe Biden, a political opponent seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. Trump had dismissed accusations of a “quid pro quo” in which he withheld millions of federal dollars until the country provided him the information about Hunter Biden’s business dealings.

Nathaly Arriola, executive director of Need to Impeach — an advocacy group calling for Trump’s removal — said in a written statement that support for impeachment had reached an “inflection point.”

“This poll shows voters understand a simple fact in all of this: Donald Trump has committed crimes and tried covering them up. If any of their friends, family, or they themselves did the same, they’d be thrown in jail. Americans want Donald Trump to be held accountable for his crimes and corruption because that’s the American way,” Arriola said.

The survey of 1,115 self-identified registered voters has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

This story was originally published September 30, 2019 at 1:11 PM with the headline "Poll: Momentum grows for Donald Trump to be impeached and removed from office."