As the House ramps up its impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s conversations with Ukraine, half of the American public believes he should be impeached and removed from the Oval Office.
The latest CNN poll conducted by SSRS marks a new high in the network’s polling on the topic and the first time that support for the president’s impeachment and removal has significantly outweighed opposition.
Fifty percent of respondents said they feel Trump’s explanations for his communications with Ukraine are mostly false, while 44% think he is mostly telling the truth. Those views were divided by party, with 86 % of Republicans believing him and 83% of Democrats not.
Support for impeachment and removal also fell along party lines, as 87% of Democrats favor it, but just 6% of Republicans do — down from 14% last month. Among independents, 50% support impeaching and removing Trump. When it comes to demographics, Women are more likely to favor impeachment and removal, at 56%, than men, 44%. Similarly, 68% of nonwhite Americans favor it, but just 40% of white Americans do.
Americans are divided on House Democrats’ intentions behind their impeachment inquiry. Forty-eight percent say Democrats are carrying out the inquiry because they believe he committed impeachable offenses but 42% believe they are just trying to take down Trump. Public opinion is flipped when it comes to Republicans’ motivations, with 50% saying the GOP mostly opposes impeachment and removal because they are trying to protect Trump and 40% believing they do not think the president committed impeachable offenses.
Trump’s approval rating, however, does not appear to have taken any major hits. Overall, 41% of respondents said they approve his handling of the presidency, while 57% disapprove. The statistics fall in line with his approval ratings before the impeachment inquiry was announced. His favorability rating has also not lost ground, holding at 42% favorable and 56% unfavorable.
House Democrats launched their impeachment inquiry last month after a whistleblower complaint about Trump’s July 25 phone call with the president of Ukraine alleged that he attempted to withhold military aid in exchange for a Ukrainian investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and the debunked allegations that the country meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney admitted that a quid pro quo was involved last week, but he later walked back his comment.
The poll was conducted from Oct. 17-20 among a random national sample of 1,003 adults, who were reached on landlines or cellphones by a live interviewer. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
