The resistance to Donald Trump’s impeachment is weakening, a new Fox News poll shows.
The much-awaited congressional appearance from Special Counsel Robert Mueller finally took place this week, and while it may not have caused public sentiment to swing in favor of impeachment the way Democrats may have hoped, new polling shows that the once entrenched opposition to the idea of impeachment is fading away.
The poll from Fox News showed that only a minority of Americans are now against the idea of impeaching Trump, and the all-important independent voters are moving even more strongly out of the oppositional camp.
“In June, 48 percent said Trump should not be impeached at all, a number which fell to 45 percent in the new survey. And among independent voters, opposition to impeachment is at just 41 percent,” noted a report from Mediaite .
Democrats have looked to impeach Trump for the evidence of obstruction of justice laid out in Mueller’s report, though Trump himself has said that the issue is settled and America must now move on.
The Mediaite report noted that there were some mixed signs for Democrats hoping to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump. There was even larger movement from those supporting impeachment back into the “don’t know” camp when it came to impeaching Trump, and again independents were leading the way.
In a similar poll from June, just 5 percent of independent voters were not sure if they favored Trump’s impeachment. For the poll taken in July, that number had swelled to 13 percent.
The polling was all conducted before Robert Mueller’s appearance before congressional committees this week, but there are signs that his hearing hasn’t moved the needle too much toward impeachment. According to Politico , a plurality of people polled did not support starting impeachment proceedings in polling taken after the hearing . A total of 46 percent of people said that Congress should not start impeachment, while 35 percent said lawmakers should start the process of impeaching Trump.
JUST IN: Third-ranking Senate Democrat calls for House to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump https://t.co/ZSFfjcsvmO pic.twitter.com/XDoMfBG68Y
— The Hill (@thehill) July 28, 2019
As the report noted, the numbers after Mueller’s hearing were largely the same as before, when 50 percent opposed starting impeachment, and 38 percent were in favor.
There has been conflict even among Democrats on how to proceed. While a number of caucus members have been vocal in calling either for proceedings to start, or for his outright impeachment, party leadership has been more reticent to take action. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said repeatedly that Democrats must be careful in moving forward, saying that public sentiment must be strongly behind them. That has put her in direct conflict with some members looking to buck party leadership and start impeachment proceedings against Trump.
