US polls swing against impeaching Trump
DEMOCRATS hoped it would be the week that Donald Trump was hoist with his own petard. A parade of witnesses, including former aides to the US president, strode into Congress to deliver seemingly damning testimony to the impeachment inquiry.
But the blockbuster hearings, which attracted record television viewing figures, appeared instead to have swung public support back to Mr Trump.
A national poll by Emerson College, taken during the hearings, between Nov 17 and Nov 20, found that 45 per cent now oppose impeaching the president, with 43 per cent in favour. In October, the same poll had a majority, 48 per cent, for, with 44 per cent against.
A series of witnesses suggested Mr Trump had offered a “quid pro quo” to the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The central plank of the allegations is that Mr Trump withheld $392million (£305million) in military assistance to Ukraine unless Mr
Zelenskiy announced an investigation into the business dealings of the Biden family in that country.
Despite blanket coverage of the hearings, only seven per cent of voters thought impeachment was the most important issue. The top issue for Republicans and independent voters was the economy, and for Democrats, it was healthcare.
A separate poll in the election battleground state of Wisconsin found 40 per cent thought Mr Trump should be impeached and removed, and 53 per cent said he should not.
Mr Trump seized on the poll results, tweeting: “Polls have now turned very strongly against impeachment.” A vote in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives on whether to impeach him is expected before Christmas, setting up a trial in the Senate. Republican groups are spending millions of dollars on anti-impeachment TV adverts. Mr Trump has said he welcomes a trial.
The White House wants to limit the length of the trial, perhaps to as little as two weeks. A spokesman indicated they would be willing to call Joe Biden, and his son Hunter, as witnesses.
Hunter Biden sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company while his father was handling Ukraine policy as Barack Obama’s vice-president.
Meanwhile, an ethics group has published documents from the state department that it says clearly detail contacts between Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, and Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer. Mr Giuliani has been at the centre of accusations that Ukraine was being pressured to investigate the Bidens.