A majority of American voters support the decision by Democrats in the House of Representatives to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, and nearly half of those individuals believe Congress should recommend that the president be removed from office, according to the results Washington Post-Scholar School poll released early Tuesday.
The inquiry, announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., centers around Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Pelosi and other key House Democrats embraced an impeachment inquiry after months of resistance when a whistleblower filed a complaint about the call, which was not released in Congress within the seven days mandated by law.
The White House's summary of the call revealed that Trump asked Zelensky to do him "a favor" and investigate the business dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, and a conspiracy theory about Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Biden.
The Washington Post-Scholar School poll found that 58 percent of individuals believe the House was correct to launch the inquiry, while 38 percent disagree with the move. Almost half of all adults — 49 percent — believe lawmakers in the lower chamber should call for the president's removal from office. Just 6 percent of respondents support the inquiry but do not favor removing Trump from office.
Pollsters found a partisan divide on the issue, with more than 8 in 10 Democrats endorsing the inquiry, and nearly 8 in 10 favoring Trump's removal from office. Among Republicans, roughly 3 in 10 back the inquiry, while nearly 2 in 10 support the president's removal from office. Meanwhile, 57 percent of independent voters support the inquiry, and 49 percent say Trump should be removed from office.
Support for an impeachment inquiry has grown among all three voting groups since July. Among Democrats, support went up 25 points, while Republican support for the move increased by 21 points and independent support grew by 20 points, according to the latest poll.
On the question of the appropriateness of Trump's request to have Zelensky investigate Biden and his son, 62 percent of all voters said the request was inappropriate while 32 percent felt it was not inappropriate.
In recent days, Trump has denied any improper behavior and insisted that his call with Zelensky was "perfect." He has repeatedly cited concerns about corruption as his rationale for an investigation into Biden, a leading Democratic presidential candidate as he runs for re-election in 2020.
The Washington Post-Scholar School survey of a random sample of 1,007 adults was conducted by telephone Oct. 1–6. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
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