In the wake of the impeachment inquiry being launched, public support also jumps for Congress –

By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A clear majority of the American people now support the impeachment and removal from office of President Donald J. Trump, and we don’t even have a report yet from the House investigation laying out the case in articles of impeachment.

That’s according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject, which shows that 52 percent of Americans now favor not just the impeachment investigation or inquiry, but removing Trump from the White House.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress should also take heart from this survey, since it shows the highest level of support for Congress in recent memory. Since the Speaker announced the impeachment investigation, public approval of Congress has jumped to a mind-blowing 25 percent, a number that typically hovers around 13 percent, down there with used car salesmen and the mainstream media.

Also, Trump’s approval rating has finally fallen below 40 percent in the Gallup poll, to 39 percent.

In the previous survey, Trump’s personal approval had already dropped to 34 percent, even among Republicans and church goers, even though his job approval was still at 40 percent.

Gallup Poll: Trump’s Personal Approval Falls With Republicans and Church Goers

The jump in approval of Congress is largely being driven by Democrats, who must now perceive that Congress is actually standing up to Trump and trying to do something to get rid of him.

This survey shows a 15 percentage point jump in support for the job Congress is doing among Democrats, from 19 to 34 percent.

Comparing Trump to Nixon, Clinton

Gallup measured public support for impeachment and removal of Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton during their presidencies. Nixon resigned from office when it was clear the House would vote to impeach him, while Clinton was impeached by the House, but the Senate voted to acquit and not remove him from office.

The level of support for Trump being impeached and removed is well above where it was for Clinton, and higher than it was for Nixon in all but the final poll before he resigned.

Support for impeachment and removal of both former presidents was 19 percent in Gallup’s initial surveys. Americans’ support for Clinton’s impeachment and removal did grow from there but never came close to majority level, maxing out at 35 percent in the months before the Republican-led House voted to impeach him.

By contrast, public support for Nixon’s impeachment and removal from office swelled over the course of a year as revelations of his wrongdoings continued. By the time the House was prepared to impeach Nixon, a majority of Americans, 58 percent, favored impeachment and removal. The 58 percent Gallup found in late August of 1974 was triple the initial level of support recorded in June of 1973.

“Support for Trump’s impeachment is higher because of the near-universal support for impeaching him among Democrats,” Gallup concludes. “More Democrats now favor Trump being removed from office than did for Nixon in July 1974, 71 percent. As many independents now favor Trump being impeached as Nixon. But far fewer Republicans want Trump to be removed than wanted Nixon to be.”

Now 89 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of independents favor impeaching Trump and removing him from office. This surveys also shows that 31 percent of Republicans think Trump should not be president, a significant number in and of itself.

Bottom Line

“As support for Trump’s impeachment and removal from office has grown, so too has approval of the legislative body tasked with the role of putting this process into motion. What information comes in the latest round of subpoenas issued by House committees could determine the direction of Americans’ support for impeachment,” Gallup says in its analysis of the numbers.

“In myriad ways, the headwinds Trump faces are quite different from the ones faced by his embattled predecessors. But Gallup’s trends do show that public opinion on the question of a president’s fate can indeed move, and that low support for such actions can undermine efforts to successfully remove a president,” Gallup adds.

“The starting point of public support for Trump’s impeachment is higher than was seen for Nixon and Clinton, possibly a reflection of Trump serving in a much more politically polarized environment. Still, the needle has moved on the question as the focus has moved past the Mueller report and onto other things, with the slim majority of Americans, and a majority of independents, now in support of Trump’s impeachment and removal.”