Support for impeachment

Poll: Democratic support for impeachment grows

By QUINT FORGEY

More than two-thirds of Democratic voters believe Congress should launch impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, as support in the party rises for kicking off the process, a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll found.

Sixty-seven percent of self-identified Democratic respondents said lawmakers should begin impeachment proceedings, the first step toward removing a president from office, according to the poll released Wednesday, an increase from the 59 percent of Democrats who favored impeachment in an April survey.

Eighteen percent of Democrats said lawmakers should not begin impeaching Trump, and 15 percent said they did not know.

A majority of Democrats, 52 percent, said beginning impeachment proceedings should be a “top priority” for Congress, up from 46 percent of Democrats who said it should be a chief legislative concern in a survey earlier this month.

The poll results come after Trump told ABC News last week that he likely would accept information on a political rival if it were offered by a foreign government during the 2020 campaign. He added he might not report such an offer to the FBI, calling it "oppo research."

"While there hasn't been a huge surge in support for impeachment over the past few months, we have seen a steady drumbeat across a number of data points that show impeachment is gaining even more support among Democrats," Tyler Sinclair, vice president at Morning Consult, said. "That being said, support has remained steady among independents and very low with Republicans."

Debate has raged within Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Democratic Caucus over whether to begin impeaching the president. After the conclusion of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, several lawmakers and Democratic presidential candidates called for kicking off the process.

Most registered voters said in the poll that they had “seen, read, or heard” about Trump’s comments on foreign interference in U.S. elections, which he later tried to clean up by telling Fox News that "of course" he would alert the FBI to such an offer — after reviewing the information.

When asked, in light of Trump's comments to ABC News, whether candidates should accept information on their opponents if it is offered by a foreign government, 61 percent of voters responded “probably not” or “definitely not.” Twenty-one percent said a candidate should "definitely" or "probably" accept that information, and 18 percent said they did not know, the poll found.