Support among Wisconsin voters for impeaching President Trump has dipped slightly since the start of the public hearings, according to a new poll.
Forty percent of registered Wisconsin voters said Trump should be impeached and removed from office, based on a Marquette Law School poll released Wednesday.
The results are a 4-point decrease since a similar poll conducted in October, before House Democrats launched the public phase of the impeachment probe. The change is within the 4.1 percentage point margin of error.
Support is still deeply split by party identification. Four percent of Republican respondents and 7 percent of “lean Republican” respondents in the poll support impeachment. Among Democrats surveyed, 81 percent support impeachment and 73 percent who “lean Democrat” said the same.
The dip in support was seen across party lines, with Democratic support decreasing by 7 points and Republican support decreasing 2 points.
However, impeachment support from independent voters saw a slight, 3-point increase, to 36 percent from 33 percent, based on the poll.
The poll also found a divide between Democrats and Republicans over views on whether Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate “his political rivals” and whether Trump withheld foreign aid, two allegations at the center of the impeachment probe.
Eighty percent of Democrats polled said Trump did ask for an investigation, and just 8 percent said he did not, whereas 29 percent of Republicans said Trump did ask and 51 percent said he did not.
Asked whether Trump withheld aid “to pressure Ukraine for investigation of political rivals,” 77 percent of Democrats said Trump held up aid, and 7 percent said he did not. But just 8 percent of Republicans agree, and 70 percent said Trump did not withhold the aid.
The Trump campaign is lauding the results of the poll.
“Democrats were hoping their public impeachment hearings that began last week would be the game-changer they desperately need to fulfill their quest to impeach the president. Instead, voters’ eyes are glazing over as they recognize these hearings for what they are: a pointless, partisan sham,” campaign spokesman Andrew Clark said in a statement.
Although, the poll suggests that voters who have been following the hearings are more likely to agree with Democrats’ allegations that Trump asked for the investigation and withheld the aid. Among voters who followed the hearings “very closely,” 61 percent said Trump did ask for the investigation and 51 percent said Trump held up the aid.
But just 34 percent of voters who followed along “not at all closely” said Trump asked for the investigation and 20 percent who said he held up aid, based on the poll.
The poll was conducted between Nov. 13-17. Pollsters surveyed 801 registered voters in Wisconsin. There is a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.