Poll: Most independents support Trump’s removal

Apart from credit for good economy, positives for president are few in Fox News survey.

Half of registered voters and a majority of independents think the Senate should convict President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial and remove him from office, according to a Fox News poll released Sunday.

Trump was impeached in the House last month on articles of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress stemming from allegations that he leveraged military aid to pressure Ukraine into opening investigations for his own political benefit. Trump has denied acting improperly, and his legal team has accused Democrats of trying to subvert the will of the voters.

Fifty percent told Fox News that Trump should be convicted and removed, and 44% said he should not. Registered voters’ impeachment opinions largely fell along party lines, with 81% of Democrats favoring the president’s removal and 84% of Republicans opposing it. Independents said Trump should be removed by a nearly 20-point margin, with 53% in favor of conviction and 34% opposed.

The poll was conducted Jan. 19-22, which was after the Senate trial technically had begun but before the House impeachment managers and the president’s legal team were able to make their cases.

Democrats have argued that the Senate should subpoena additional witnesses and documents before rendering its verdict. But 48% of voters said the Senate already has all the information it needs, while 44% said it should hear from additional witnesses.

The results of the impeachment question are little changed from other Fox News polls released since the Ukraine allegations surfaced in September. A survey from the cable news network Dec. 8-11, which was before the House voted to impeach Trump, found 50% thought he should be removed and 46% did not.

Though voters said the economy is doing well and many gave the president credit for that success, there was little other positive news for Trump in the poll, which also found him losing to every leading Democratic presidential hopeful in a hypothetical general election matchup.

Here’s a look at some of the other poll results:

A 56% majority approved of the president’s handling of the economy, while only 38% disapproved. Twenty percent rated the economy as “excellent” – a number that never topped 3% during President Barack Obama’s time in office – and an additional 35% rated it “good.” And just 14% rated the economy “poor” (that number never got lower than 23% in the Obama era).

Forty-two percent of voters said Trump was the “most responsible” for the current economy, while 9% said Obama and 7% said big business.