Americans are almost evenly split over whether they think there was enough evidence to support impeaching President Trump, according to a nationwide poll released on Thursday.
The new Hill-HarrisX poll showed that 53 percent of registered voters think that there was compelling evidence for Trump’s impeachment, compared 47 percent who said that the Democratic-led House did not sufficiently make the case.
The survey’s results fell strongly along party lines.
Democrats — at 83 percent — were more inclined to say that there’s enough evidence to have warranted Trump’s impeachment.
Just 23 percent of Republicans agreed, while 48 percent of those who identified as independents said they thought that House Democrats had made the case.
The survey comes a day after House Democrats voted to impeach Trump on two articles related to his dealings with Ukraine.
Lawmakers voted 230-197 on the resolution accusing Trump of abusing his power, and 229-198 on the obstruction of Congress charge. Every Republican opposed the impeachment charges, while just two Democrats joined them. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) voted present on both counts.
Though the articles would normally head straight to the Senate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has delayed them over concerns over whether the upper chamber would conduct a fair and impartial trial. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — who would essentially serve as jury foreman in the trial — has already stated that he would not be an impartial juror.
“I’m not an impartial juror. This is a political process,” McConnell told reporters earlier this week.
The historic vote on impeachment follows nearly three months of investigations by the House into Trump’s actions concerning Ukraine. The inquiry was centered on a whistleblower’s complaint alleging that the president pressured the country into opening investigations into his political rivals that would benefit him in 2020.
The Hill-HarrisX survey was conducted among 1,001 registered voters from Dec.17-18. The sampling margin of error for this poll is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
— Tess Bonn
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