Impeachment Fails to Bridge Partisan Divide

Former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial begins this week, with Democrats looking to make the case that Trump’s divisive rhetoric and failure to condemn white conspiracy groups directly led to a mob riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. While some Republicans seem open to a formal impeachment trial, many are calling the entire process unconstitutional and are publicly against the impeachment. Still, constitutional experts say the impeachment is well within the boundaries of the 233-year-old text, and new survey data shows a majority of people are in favor of Trump’s impeachment.

In new survey data from Gallup, 52 percent of Americans prefer their senator to vote in favor of Trump’s impeachment, compared to 45 percent that prefer their senator vote not to convict. The partisan clash in opinion is clearly evident by party, where 89 percent of Democrats are in favor of their senator voting to convict and 88 percent of Republicans hoping their senator will vote not to convict.

The percentage of Americans in favor or against Trump’s impeachment lines up fairly evenly with the former president’s first impeachment one year earlier, albeit a little more polarized in 2021. In January of last year, 81 percent of Democrats were in favor of impeachment compared to 86 percent of Republicans against it. Overall, the support among liberal voters for Trump’s impeachment is noticeably stronger when connected with his perceived role in the U.S. Capitol riot, while Republicans’ support continues to be largely unwavering.