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Poll: Majority of Americans Support Impeachment Inquiry

Public opinion has rapidly shifted as a majority of Americans now say they support the House of Representative's impeachment inquiry, according to a new poll released Sunday that mirrors the trend of previous polls from last week.

(CN) - Public opinion has rapidly shifted as a majority of Americans now say they support the House of Representative's impeachment inquiry, according to a new poll released Sunday that mirrors the trend of polls from last week.

The CBS News poll found that 55% of Americans approve of the inquiry into President Donald Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky where he repeatedly pushed Zelensky into investigating political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Another 45% said they disapprove of the investigation.

Predictably, partisan support is split as 77% of Republicans polled said they disapprove of the impeachment inquiry, while 87% of Democrats support it. Among independents, support is mixed as 49% approve and 51% disapprove, a result that is within the poll's margin of error.

Several polls conducted last week found a similar trend as more Americans are coming out in support of an investigation into President Trump's conversation with Zelensky.

Nate Silver, of polling analysis site 538, said on Twitter Sunday that while Democrats have mostly been in favor of impeachment proceedings since the news broke, it's only recently that more independents and Republicans have come around as the story has picked up steam.

"It kinda seems like the initial movement in impeachment polls (i.e. polls from the middle of last week) was mostly among Dems while the newer polls (Friday/this weekend) also show pro-impeachment shifts among indies and sometimes Rs. Which makes sense given how the story tracked," Silver tweeted. "That is to say, the initial movement was caused *mostly* by Dems coming out in favor of impeachment. Whereas the later movement was caused *mostly* by the facts of the case being bad for Trump and becoming more well-known after the  "transcript" and whistleblower dossier."

On whether President Trump should be impeached over his actions with Ukraine, 42% said they believe he deserves to be impeached, compared to 36% who say he shouldn't. Just 22% said it's too soon to say and want to hear more information before deciding.

When asked about Trump's actions, 41% of those polled said they believe he acted illegally, while another 31% said he acted improperly but within the law. Only 28% said they believe the president's actions were proper.

In a separate ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday, nearly two-thirds of Americans said Trump's actions were a serious issue. Another 83% said they weren't surprised by the president encouraging Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday after Congress learned of a whistleblower complaint against the president and his request of the Ukrainian president.

The whistleblower claims that President Trump used his office for personal political gain by withholding aid money to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden. The complaint also alleges that White House officials tried to keep the conversation a secret from intelligence officers.

The president was "using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election,” according to the complaint.

White House aides have been running damage control since the story broke, claiming that President Trump's request was legal and attacking the whistleblower's complaint as hearsay.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Sunday that the whistleblower has agreed to testify before a congressional committee.

The CBS News poll surveyed 2,059 U.S. resident between Sept. 26-27 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.

The ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted Sept. 27-28 among 504 American adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.

Categories / Criminal, Government, Law, National, Politics

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