The CNN poll released Monday shows that 51 percent of Americans believe the Senate should remove President Donald Trump from office during the upcoming impeachment trial. The formal impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate is set to begin Tuesday morning.
The poll conducted by SSRS shows that 45 percent of those surveyed believe the Senate should vote against convicting the president and removing him. This was the first national telephone poll conducted since House Democrats formally delivered the articles of impeachment to the Senate, according to CNN.
Of those polled, 69 percent indicated they would prefer the Senate to hear testimony from witnesses who did not testify before the House impeachment inquiry.
Furthermore, 58 percent of those polled believe the president abused his power for political gain, and 57 percent said he obstructed the House during its inquiry.
The variances in percentage points are largely partisan, as 89 percent of Democrats believe Trump should be removed from office, opposed to just 8 percent of Republicans who believe Trump should be convicted and removed.
The independents are in a virtual deadlock as 48 percent want him removed while 46 percent don’t think Trump should be removed.
The poll is even tighter in 2016 battleground states—those decided by 8 points or fewer—with 49 percent for and against removing Trump from office. Those states are: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The CNN poll claims divides in gender and race as well Here are those numbers:
59 percent of women say Trump should be removed42 percent of men say he should be removed86 percent of African Americans believe he should be removed65 percent of Hispanics say he should be removed42 percent of whites say he should be removed79 percent of women of color say he should be removed59 percent of non-white men say he should be removed49 percent of white women say he should be removed33 percent of white men say he should be removed44 percent of white men with degrees say he should be removed27 percent of white men without degrees say he should be removed
This poll is different from a Gallup poll that is more favorable toward Trump, with 51 percent of those surveyed saying the president should not be removed from office. That poll was conducted between January 2-15, surveying 1,014 Americans.
Trump is the third president to face an impeachment trial in America’s history.
