Americans split on impeachment in new polls

Americans are split on impeaching President Trump in two new polls released Wednesday ahead of a vote in the House.

Forty-five percent of Americans in a new CNBC poll disapprove of Congress impeaching Trump, while 44 percent approve and 11 percent are unsure. In a new Morning Consult/Politico poll, 43 percent of respondents disapprove of impeachment while 50 percent approve, with another 7 percent saying they are unsure or don’t have an opinion.

In a sign that voters are making little distinction between the House’s investigation and the likely Senate trial, 50 percent of voters in the Morning Consult poll backed Trump’s removal from office.

The polls come hours before the House is set to vote to make Trump just the third president in U.S. history to be impeached.

The House’s impeachment investigation centers around claims that Trump abused his power by leveraging nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pressure Kyiv to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a chief political rival of Trump, and alleged 2016 election meddling. Democrats also say the president obstructed Congress by ordering officials to defy subpoenas.

The two articles of impeachment are expected to largely pass along party lines in the House with only a handful of Democratic defections.

The impeachment process has drawn sharply partisan reactions, with 78 percent of Democrats approving of the investigation and 83 percent of Republicans disapproving, according to the CNBC poll. Independents disapprove of impeachment by a 46 percent to 41 percent margin in that poll.

In the Morning Consult/Politico poll, 87 percent of Democrats approve of impeachment and 86 percent of Republicans disapprove. Independents approve by a 47 percent to 39 percent margin, with 15 percent saying they are unsure or don’t have an opinion. 

The CNBC poll surveyed 800 adults from Dec. 10-13 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. The Morning Consult/Politico poll surveyed 1,991 registered voters from Dec. 14-15 and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.