After another week with impeachment in the news, registered voters nationwide are still divided on impeaching and removing President Trump from office, with 45 percent saying he should be impeached and removed and 49 percent opposing the idea, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea-ack) University national poll released today. This compares to last week’s poll, in which voters were evenly split on impeaching and removing the president 47 – 47 percent. In a poll released on September 25, before any major news about impeachment, voters were clearly against impeachment 37 – 57 percent.
While nearly half of voters do not currently back impeachment, a majority of voters do still approve 53 – 43 percent of the impeachment inquiry being conducted by the U.S. House of Representatives in order to determine whether or not to bring impeachment charges against the president. A week ago, voters approved of the inquiry 52 – 45 percent.
A bare majority of voters, 51 percent, say that this impeachment inquiry is a legitimate investigation, while 43 percent say it is a political witch hunt. Republicans say that the inquiry is a witch hunt 88 – 8 percent, while Democrats say it is a legitimate investigation 92 – 5 percent, with independents agreeing that the inquiry is legitimate 52 – 40 percent.
“Despite a week of blistering partisan exchanges, the sound and fury over whistle blowers and impeachment, the needle hardly moves,” said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy. “The country remains closely divided on whether to impeach and remove President Trump from office, and his base remains granite solid.”
The topic of impeachment does seem to be on voters’ minds, as 61 percent say that they are paying a lot of attention to news about impeachment, and an additional 25 percent say they are paying some attention to the news about it. Only a combined 13 percent say that they are paying either only a little attention or none at all.
When asked in general terms, 48 percent of voters say that asking a foreign leader to investigate a political rival is a good enough reason to impeach a president and remove them from office, while 42 percent say that it is not a good enough reason for impeachment. Republicans think it is not a good enough reason 77 – 12 percent, while Democrats say that it is a good enough reason 87 – 9 percent. Independents are more evenly divided, with 46 percent saying it is a good enough reason for impeachment and 42 percent saying it is not.
A third of voters, 33 percent, say that they believe that President Trump asked foreign nations to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden in order to expose corruption. However, 48 percent of voters believe that Trump asked foreign nations to conduct such an investigation in order to hurt a political rival. Republicans say 68 – 9 percent that Trump asked for an investigation to expose corruption, Democrats say 85 – 7 percent that Trump asked in order to hurt a political rival, and independents agree with the Democrats 50 – 27 percent that Trump was looking to hurt a political rival instead of exposing corruption.
The Democratic Primary
With the next Democratic debate only a week away, Warren and Biden both keep their top of the pack positions in the Democratic primary, with Warren receiving support from 29 percent of Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic and Biden getting 26 percent support. Sanders seems to be the only other candidate left in the mix with the two frontrunners, receiving 16 percent of the vote. No other candidate tops 4 percent.