Fox News Poll: 49 percent favor impeaching Trump

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Will President Trump get a fair impeachment investigation?

Deleware Democrat Sen. Chris Coons says it is in the best interest of Americans to conduct the impeachment investigation publicly and fairly.

Nearly half of voters want President Trump impeached and removed from office, according to a new Fox News Poll. In addition, 6-in-10 believe the president did ask foreign leaders to investigate political opponents -- and two-thirds say that action is inappropriate.

Forty-nine percent want Trump impeached and removed from office, 4 percent say he should be impeached but not removed, and 41 percent oppose impeaching Trump. That’s about where things stood in early October, when 51 percent said impeach/remove, 4 percent impeach/don’t remove, and 40 percent opposed altogether.

The two-point dip in support for impeachment comes from a 5-point decline among Republicans, as 8 percent favor impeachment now, compared to 13 percent in early October.

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More voters believe Trump asked Ukraine to probe his rivals (60 percent) and that he held up military aid as pressure to get what he wanted (52 percent), than favor impeaching him for doing so (49 percent).

Among those opposing impeachment, 57 percent say nothing could change their mind, while 34 percent say new evidence could make them support impeachment. Overall, that means about one-quarter of voters will not support impeachment under any conditions.

Meanwhile, 55 percent think it is at least somewhat likely Trump will be impeached, up sharply from 38 percent in June.

The House voted largely along partisan lines Thursday to go forward with an impeachment inquiry into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. All but two Democrats supported it, while all Republicans opposed it. The poll was conducted prior to the House vote (October 27-30).

Trump frequently calls the inquiry a witch hunt. While 39 percent of voters tend to agree, calling it a “bogus” attempt to undermine Trump’s presidency, over half, 52 percent, believe the inquiry is a legitimate investigation into an important issue.

Views split over what should happen if the House finds sufficient evidence to impeach Trump: 43 percent say voters should decide in the election and 42 percent think lawmakers should impeach and remove him right away.

By a 46-17 percent margin, voters say the situation with Ukraine has worsened as opposed to improved their opinion of Trump’s presidency (27 percent no difference). Seventy-five percent of Democrats, 38 percent of independents, and 13 percent of Republicans say it has worsened their view.

Three-in-ten Republicans (32 percent) think Trump asked Ukraine to go digging into his political opponents and 2-in-10 (19 percent) believe he used military aid to seek that help.

In addition, over half of Republicans (53 percent) say it is generally okay for the president to ask foreign leaders for help in going after his rivals, while slightly more (55 percent) think it is inappropriate for the children of political leaders to have business dealings in other countries.

Among Democrats, 91 percent think it is inappropriate for the president to ask foreign leaders to probe political opponents, and 64 percent believe it is inappropriate for politicians’ children to do business overseas.

“As long as Republican leaders remain united behind the president, it’s unlikely his overall support will drop much below 40 percent,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democratic counterpart Chris Anderson. “One major difference between the Nixon and Clinton impeachment proceedings is the behavior of partisan elites. Basically, it’s only when GOP elites jump ship that Republican voters will follow suit.”

Overall, 42 percent of voters approve of Trump’s job performance and 57 percent disapprove. That’s little changed since early October, when it was 43-55 percent.  In September, before the impeachment inquiry started, it was 45-54 percent.

Fully 86 percent of Republicans approve of Trump. He’s hit a record high 89 percent approval among Republicans several times during his presidency, and he was elected with the backing of 88 percent in 2016.

The president receives negative job ratings on immigration (40 percent approve, 57 percent disapprove), foreign policy (37-56), and health care (35-53).  His only positive rating is on the economy, and that’s by a slim 3-point margin (49-46). In September, Trump’s rating on the economy was positive by 5 points (50-45), and his net rating hit a high in July 2019 and June 2018 (+11 points).

Forty-seven percent rate the economy as being in excellent or good shape, while 52 percent call conditions only fair or poor. That’s a net negative by 5 points.  For comparison, it was -32 points when Trump was first elected (33 excellent/good vs. 65 only fair/poor, December 2016).

Views on the economy are mainly driven by partisanship. Republicans alone rate the economy positively (78 percent excellent or good).  Three-quarters of Democrats (76 percent) and over half of independents (55 percent) say it is in fair or poor shape.

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Fifty-eight percent of voters are dissatisfied with how things are going in the country, mostly unchanged since January.

Congressional Democrats fare better than their Republican counterparts, although both are in negative territory. More disapprove (51 percent) than approve (37 percent) of the job Democrats are doing by 14 points and more disapprove of Republicans by 25 (56-31).

Conducted October 27-30, 2019, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with 1,040 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide who spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for all registered voters.