Poll: Majority wants Trump out, but not through impeachment

A majority of voters wants to see a new president in the White House, according to a new poll, but 59 percent say President Trump should not be impeached. 

Fifty-seven percent of respondents said it is time to have a new president, according to a Monmouth University poll released Thursday. However, only 35 percent said they think Trump should be impeached. 

Democrats overwhelmingly backed impeachment, at 72 percent. Only 39 percent of independents and 8 percent of Republicans agree, based on the poll.  

Overall support for impeachment has ranged between 35 and 42 percent since Monmouth started polling that question in July 2017.{mosads}

Earlier this month, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said the House had started formal impeachment proceedings and is gathering evidence to decide later this year whether or not to vote on articles of impeachment. Some 130 House Democrats back impeachment proceedings, based on The Hill’s whip list. 

Of the 59 percent of Americans who said they do not support formal impeachment, 27 percent said it’s because they think Trump has done nothing wrong, according to Monmouth. Another 13 percent said the impeachment inquiry would be a partisan “witch hunt,” echoing the president’s own language on the matter. 

If the House were to pass articles of impeachment, just 20 percent of respondents said they think there is a chance the Senate would vote to oust Trump, according to the poll. It would require two-thirds of the Republican-controlled Senate to impeach the president. 

Some voters, 31 percent, said an impeachment process without a conviction could put Trump in a stronger position to be reelected. Just 23 percent said such an outcome would put him in a weaker position, and 36 percent said it would have no significant outcome. 

Only 39 percent of respondents said Trump should be reelected next year.

The poll surveyed 800 Americans Aug. 16-20 by phone. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.