After Capitol siege, majority in new poll says Trump should be removed from office before term ends

More than half of the Americans surveyed in a new poll said that they believe President Trump should be removed from office following the attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. 

Fifty-six percent of respondents in the ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday said that Trump should be removed from office before his term ends in 10 days. Two-thirds, or 67 percent, also said that the president deserves a “good amount” of the blame for the riots in Washington, D.C. last week. 

During a “Stop the Steal rally” on the National Mall last Wednesday, Trump urged his supporters to march to the Capitol as a joint session of Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election. 

“We’re going walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” Trump said. “We’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”

The violence was linked to five deaths, including a Capitol Police officer, with dozens of people arrested in the following days for their participation in the breach. 

Scores of Democrats and some Republican lawmakers have said Trump’s riling of the crowd is grounds for his removal. On Monday, House Democrats are expected to introduce an article of impeachment against Trump, citing him as a clear and present danger to the country. Several senators have said they believe Trump has committed impeachable offenses and would consider such a push from the House. 

Almost all Democrats and a majority of independents, 58 percent, said in the new poll that Trump should be removed. Sixty-one percent of Republicans indicated that the President “did nothing wrong,” and a third said removing him isn’t “worth the effort.”

The ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted January 8 to January 9, 2021 among sample of 570 general population adults age 18 or older. The margin of sampling error is 4.7 percentage points.