Most Americans say Trump ‘abused power’ by asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, new poll finds

Poll finds 51 per cent of Americans say Trump ‘abused power’ by asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden but only 48 per cent support removing him from office while 45 per cent oppose

  • Survey of 1,500 registered voters show opinion split on Trump’s impeachment 
  • Most voters agree the president asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden 
  • A majority – 51 per cent – say Trump abused his powers as president 
  • But Yahoo News poll found that just 48 per cent support removal from office 

While a majority of Americans believe President Trump acted inappropriately in his dealings with Ukraine, just 48 per cent of registered voters believe he should be impeached or removed from office, according to a new poll.

The poll conducted by Yahoo News and YouGov was taken this week after Americans have had a chance to digest five days of televised impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill.

The poll asked 1,500 adults for their views on the impeachment proceedings, according to Yahoo News.

Nearly 60 per cent said they believe Trump ‘asked a foreign leader to investigate a political opponent’ while 51 per cent said they think the president ‘withheld military aid to Ukraine until they agreed to conduct the investigations he wanted.’

When asked if they believed Trump ‘abused his powers as president’, 51 per cent agreed, according to the poll.

The Democrat-led House of Representatives has launched an impeachment inquiry against Trump, alleging that he abused the powers of his office when he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate a gas company with ties to the son of former Vice President Joe Biden.

Trump is also said to have demanded that the Ukrainian authorities probe a conspiracy theory involving a computer server that is allegedly linked to the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

A Yahoo News poll shows that a majority of Americans believe President Trump (seen above next to White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway on the left and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar on the right) acted inappropriately in his dealings with Ukraine

The president withheld military aid to Ukraine. When an anonymous whistleblower within the administration filed a complaint to superiors, the aid to Kyiv was released.

Several witnesses have testified in the last two weeks that they were led to believe the president used the $400million aid package as leverage in order to force Zelensky to announce a probe against Joe and Hunter Biden.

But the poll also indicates that while most Americans believe the president’s behavior was wrong, a minority of registered voters – 48 per cent – think he should be impeached or removed from office.

Forty-five per cent of registered voters say they oppose impeachment or removal from office, while 7 per cent said they are undecided.

Not surprisingly, the opinions on impeachment break down along partisan loyalties.

The poll indicates that an overwhelming majority of Republican voters – 83 per cent – oppose impeachment or removal, while the same percentage of Democratic voters support it.

Independents, meanwhile, are not as sure. The poll shows that 40 per cent of independents say Trump should be removed from office, while 23 per cent said they are not sure.

When asked what they believe will be the final outcome of the impeachment process, the answer depends on which party voters support.

Most Democrats – 54 per cent – believe Trump will be impeached but eventually acquitted in the Senate.

A majority of Republicans – 56 per cent – say they don’t think Trump will be impeached at all.

Overall, just 11 per cent of those polled think Trump will be removed from office.

A plurality – 41 per cent – say Trump will eventually be impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate.

Opinion among American voters is split as to whether Trump should be removed from office. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who is leading the impeachment inquiry, is seen above on Capitol Hill on Wednesday

Opinion among American voters is split as to whether Trump should be removed from office. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who is leading the impeachment inquiry, is seen above on Capitol Hill on Wednesday

The level of public interest in the impeachment inquiry also appears to depend on which party one supports.

Among Democrats, 56 per cent said they have been following the impeachment hearings ‘very closely’ or ‘somewhat closely’.

Just 45 per cent of Republicans said the same.

The one thing that most Republicans and Democrats do agree on is that their representatives’ votes on impeachment will have a major impact on how they vote in next year’s election.

The poll shows that 74 per cent of registered voters in both parties say that the impeachment votes will be either ‘very important’ or ‘somewhat imporant.’

The poll’s margin of error is +/- 2.8 per cent. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk