Poll: Majority of Americans against Trump invoking executive privilege in impeachment trial

A majority of American voters are opposed to the prospect of President Trump invoking executive privilege to block new witness testimony in the Senate impeachment trial, according to a Politico-Morning Consult poll. 

The survey, which was released on Wednesday, found that just 26 percent of voters think the president should be permitted to cite executive privilege to stop certain former and current administration officials from testifying. Meanwhile, 57 percent said Trump should not be allowed to invoke executive privilege. 

Among that pool, 86 percent of Democratic respondents said Trump should be barred from invoking executive privilege when it comes to new witness testimony. An additional 57 percent of independents said the same. Just 25 percent of GOP respondents agreed that Trump should not be allowed to cite executive privilege in the impeachment trial. 

A majority of Republicans (52 percent) said Trump should be allowed to do it. 

The findings come as Democrats increasingly press Senate Republicans to allow new witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial. Democrats’ calls have only grown this week following new revelations from former national security adviser John Bolton. 

The New York Times on Sunday reported that in an unpublished manuscript for his new book, Bolton said Trump tied the withholding of military aid to Ukraine to the country announcing investigations into his political rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden. 

Trump has denied the claims, saying in a tweet on Monday that “if John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book.” 

The Politico-Morning Consult survey was conducted between Jan. 24 and Jan. 26, before the Times’s first report on Bolton. 

Bolton previously indicated that he would be willing to testify before the Senate if issued a subpoena. But Trump has signaled that he would move to block that testimony. 

A majority of American voters (53 percent) said in the new survey that they supported the Senate allowing new evidence in the trial. Fifty-five percent also said they endorsed the upper chamber bringing in new witnesses. 

Debate over new witness testimony has intensified in the days following the Times report on Bolton. At least four Republicans would need to join every Democratic senator for a motion to allow new witnesses to pass. 

The Politico-Morning Consult poll was conducted using a national sample of 1,992 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.