Nearly half of voters want Trump impeached and convicted. Trump says everyone's 'reading the wrong polls.'
At this moment in time, as House Democrats prepare to make their impeachment case public and President Trump is "ravenously consuming news about the subject — primarily through a friendly lens," as Politico reports, there seems to be an unusual consensus in the polls. Two polls released Sunday and one on Friday all found that 49 percent of voters want Trump both impeached and removed from office.
In a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Sunday, the 49 percent support for impeaching and convicting Trump and 46 percent opposition is a reversal from a month ago, when 43 percent backed impeachment/removal and 49 percent said no. In Sunday's Fox News poll, 49 percent support, 41 percent opposition, for impeaching and removing Trump is a downward shift of 4 points from early October, when 51 percent backed the proposition and 40 percent opposed it. A Washington Post/ABC News numbers released Friday — 49 percent in favor of impeachment and removal and 47 percent opposed — are unchanged from early October.
There are wide partisan splits in the polling and an apparent hardening of positions — in the Fox News poll, 57 percent of impeachment opponents, or about a quarter of the entire sample, said no new evidence could make them support impeachment. In the same poll, 52 percent said the impeachment inquiry is a legitimate, important investigation while 39 percent called it "bogus." Trump agreed with the 39 percent. "You're reading the wrong polls," he told CNN's Jeremy Diamond on Sunday. The "real polls" show "people don't want anything to do with impeachment."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
All three polls were conducted Oct. 27-30. The Fox News poll surveyed 1,040 registered voters nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. WSJ/NBC News polled 900 adults, including 720 registered voters, Oct. 27-30, with a margin of error of ±3.3 points for the entire sample, ±3.7 points for registered voters. The Washington Post/ABC News poll surveyed 1,003 adults and has a margin of sampling error of ±3.5 points.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
The Democrats: time for wholesale reform?
Talking Point In the 'wreckage' of the election, the party must decide how to rebuild
By The Week UK Published
-
5 deliciously funny cartoons about turkeys
Cartoons Artists take on pardons, executions, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Crossword: November 23, 2024
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Global court issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu
Speed Read The International Criminal Court issued warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who stand accused of war crimes
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Gaetz bows out, Trump pivots to Pam Bondi
Speed Read Gaetz withdrew from attorney generation consideration, making way for longtime Trump loyalist Pam Bondi
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
GOP's Mace seeks federal anti-trans bathroom ban
Speed Read Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina has introduced legislation to ban transgender people from using federal facilities
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Ukraine fires ATACMS, Russia ups hybrid war
Speed Read Ukraine shot U.S.-provided long-range missiles and Russia threatened retaliation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New York DA floats 4-year Trump sentencing freeze
Speed Read President-elect Donald Trump's sentencing is on hold, and his lawyers are pushing to dismiss the case while he's in office
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Wyoming judge strikes down abortion, pill bans
Speed Read The judge said the laws — one of which was a first-in-the-nation prohibition on the use of medication to end pregnancy — violated the state's constitution
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US sanctions Israeli West Bank settler group
Speed Read The Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Amana, Israel's largest settlement development organization
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Gaetz ethics report in limbo as sex allegations emerge
Speed Read A lawyer representing two women alleges that Matt Gaetz paid them for sex, and one witnessed him having sex with minor
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published