Poll: 40 percent of voters say impeachment inquiry is moving too slow

A plurality of voters think the impeachment inquiry being led by House Democrats is not moving fast enough, according to a new nationwide poll released on Tuesday. 

The Hill-HarrisX poll showed that 40 percent of registered voters believe that the impeachment inquiry into President Trump is moving too slow, compared to 21 percent who thought the investigation is moving too fast.

Another 38 percent of those surveyed thought the probe was moving at “just the right pace.”

Democrats were slightly more inclined to say the inquiry was not moving fast enough, compared to 42 percent of independents and 31 percent of Republicans.

The survey comes as House Democrats move to aggressively wrap up their months-long investigation into Trump’s contacts with Ukraine. Democratic lawmakers are currently looking into whether the president attempted to pressure Ukraine into launching politically motivated investigations into Democrats by leveraging a White House visit and withholding military aid.

After two weeks of public hearings, Democrats could be on track to hold an impeachment vote by Christmas, and Republicans are already preparing for a full Senate trial.  

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said in a letter to Democrats on Monday that committees overseeing the impeachment inquiry will deliver a report on Trump’s contacts with Ukraine “soon” after lawmakers return from the Thanksgiving recess.

However, Schiff did not rule out out the possibility of additional hearings or depositions.

The investigation, which was first launched in September, will subsequently be turned over to the House Judiciary Committee. 

Schiff also noted in the letter that nearly a dozen potential witnesses defied subpoenas, arguing that the White House undertook “an unprecedented campaign of obstruction.”

A federal judge ruled Monday that former White House counsel Don McGhan must testify before Congress as part of the impeachment inquiry into whether Trump used his office to pressure Ukraine. 

U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is an Obama appointee, ruled that McGhan is obligated to comply with a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee seeking to compel his testimony. But the Trump administration moved swiftly to block that effort.

The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it would appeal the ruling and asked Jackson to pause the ruling in the interim.

The Hill-Harris survey was conducted Nov. 16-17 among 1,000 registered voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

— Tess Bonn