Support For Impeaching Trump Surges 7% In One Week In New Poll

Votes are evenly split on whether Congress should begin impeachment against President Donald Trump, according to a poll by POLITICO/Morning Consult.

The 1,640 person poll began after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) announced a formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday. It shows 43% of voters think Congress should begin the process of impeachment, and 43% think Congress should not begin impeachment proceedings, while 13% of voters are undecided.

A poll conducted last Friday, before news of his phone call with Ukraine broke, showed only 49% of voters opposing beginning impeachment and only 36% supporting beginning impeachment. The seven point jump shows a marked increase in support for Trump’s impeachment.

The poll shows that 39% of independent support impeachment, compared to the previous 33%. Among Republicans, support for impeachment has risen from 5% to 10%.

A separate poll from Wednesday by Marist/NPR/PBS NewsHour, found that 49% of Americans support impeachment and 46% oppose it. Half of the respondents believe the inquiry is a “serious matter,” while 48% said it’s “just politics.”

Trump’s interactions with Ukraine, in which he asked the Ukrainian president to investigate democratic presidential candidate frontrunner Joe Biden, prompted a whistleblower complaint and outcry by some democrats that he is abusing his power. The complaint and the phone call are the main reasons why several politicians support impeachment, and why Pelosi decided to launch an impeachment inquiry.

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However, the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll found that the majority of voters were unfamiliar with the Ukraine scandal. Only 32 percent of voters said they had heard “a lot” about news reports alleging that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine, and pressured the country’s president to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter, who is connected to a Ukraine-based gas company, while 34 percent say they have heard “some” about the Ukraine news. A total 34 percent of respondents said they had heard barely anything or nothing.