As President Donald Trump continues to face House Democrats’ impeachment investigation, he can not count on the support of close to the majority of Americans. A new poll released via NBC News says that a full 49 percent of Americans favor not just the impeachment inquiry but impeachment and removal from office. About the same portion of respondents said they were against impeachment. Still, with those levels of opposition among the public, how can Trump ever expect to certainly salvage his political career out of this? The 2020 election is only getting closer.
The RealClearPolitics average of polls measuring support and opposition to the impeachment inquiry tells a similar story. According to their numbers, an average of 51.3 percent of the public supports impeachment, while only 42.3 percent of people oppose it. These numbers correlate roughly with Trump’s approval rating overall — in the NBC poll, 48 percent of respondents said they approved of Trump’s job performance, while 51 percent said they disapproved. On average, about 41.8 percent of people say they approve of Trump’s job performance, while 54.5 percent say they disapprove.
All that Trump and his Republican allies have got in response to these numbers are publicity stunts. This week, a group of House Reps led by Florida’s Matt Gaetz barged into a secure testimony room with their electronic devices in hand in some kind of showboating protest of the impeachment inquiry the interrupted testimony was supposed to be a part of. Some of the Republicans started shouting about how supposedly out of line the whole thing was, and some eventually ordered pizza from inside that room, further turning their entire operation into a desperate spectacle.
Trump tweeted approvingly, sharing:
‘Thank you to House Republicans for being tough, smart, and understanding in detail the greatest Witch Hunt in American History. It has been going on since long before I even got Elected (the Insurance Policy!). A total Scam!’
Remember, we have had actual witch hunts in the United States before, not to mention the many other abuses that have been perpetrated under the banner of the U.S. of A. But of course, Trump insists that the duly proceeding investigations launched in response to his clearly documented behavior are some of the worst things to happen in the U.S. ever.
Apparently, many to most Americans do not agree. One recent Quinnipiac University poll had 55 percent of the public in favor of the inquiry, and one recently released one from The Washington Post had a full 57 percent of respondents in favor. Only 40 percent of people supported the inquiry in that poll, leaving the gap at a full 17 percent.
The numbers carry over into polls pitting Trump against possible 2020 general election challengers. Pitted against former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump gets an average of just 43.4 percent of the support to Biden’s 49.7 percent. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren gets 49.2 to Trump’s 43.8 percent, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders gets an average of 49.7 percent of the support to Trump’s just 43.7 percent. In other words, all three of the current top candidates have consistently leading margins against Trump.
