Half Americans say Trump must be impeached and removed: Poll

Half of Americans say US President Donald Trump’s request to Ukraine’s leader to investigate his political rival was wrong and he should be impeached and removed from office, according to a new poll.

Fifty percent of US adults think Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 43 percent of those surveyed said they do not feel that way, the CNN poll finds.

The numbers remained unchanged from a CNN poll conducted in October, which was carried out ahead of last week’s public impeachment inquiry.

Trump’s approval rating has ticked up one point to 42 percent from 41 percent in October, and his disapproval falling 3 points from 57 percent to 54 percent, according to the poll. The changes in approval are within the 3.7 percentage point margin of error.

Seventy-seven percent of people surveyed said they are following the proceedings while 23 percent said they are not following along.

Fifty-three of Americans who said Trump “used the presidency improperly”.

Democratic Party lawmakers in the lower chamber of Congress expect a busy December that will be filled with proceedings and public hearings, and a likely vote to impeach the Republican president on the House floor by Christmas Day, CNN reported Thursday, citing multiple Democratic sources.

Three House committees are writing a report detailing their findings, which is expected to serve as the basis for an impeachment resolution, or “articles of impeachment.”

Impeachment begins in the House. If the House approves articles of impeachment, a trial is then held in the Senate. House members act as the prosecutors; the senators as jurors; the chief justice of the Supreme Court presides.

Trump himself said Friday he wanted to be tried by the Senate if the Democratic-led House of Representatives votes to impeach him.

In a phone interview with Fox News, Trump said he would like to see the inquiry against him go to a Senate trial and that a “nut job” Democrat like US House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff testify following the conclusion of public impeachment hearings against him.

House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry against Trump in September after the unknown whistle-blower alleged the Republican president pressured his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who had served as a director for Ukrainian energy company Burisma.