An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll reveals that Americans are almost evenly divided on an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump — 49 percent approve and 46 percent disapprove.
But the poll also reveals other factors of the political landscape, including Trump having a higher popularity rating than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who announced the House’s move to start the inquiry earlier this week — Trump has 44 percent approval while Pelosi garnered 36 percent.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is even less popular than Pelosi, with a 32 percent approval rating in the poll.
And half of those who aren’t registered to the Republican or Democrat party — 50 percent of independents oppose the inquiry.
NPR reported on its poll:
The poll was conducted Wednesday night with live phone interviewers. That was one day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry, but before a whistleblower complaint about the president’s call with the Ukrainian leader was released to the public.
“But the pollsters warn that the new developments could change public opinion quickly, especially with 7 in 10 saying they are paying attention to the news,” NPR reported.
“Democrats in the House have work to do to convince people of the usefulness of their case,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the survey of 864 Americans, said in the NPR report.
Americans are also divided on whether the impeachment inquiry is a “serious matter” (50 percent) or “just politics” (48 percent) and “whether it’s worth going through with if the Senate doesn’t convict and Trump gets to stay in office” — 49 percent said it is not worth it while 47 percent said it is.
The margin of error for the overall sample is 4.6 percentage points, Party affiliation results reflect the 745 respondents who identified as registered voters, and the margin of error was five percentage points.
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