Poll Watch: Impeachment Sentiment

As the full House of Representatives prepares to vote on impeaching president Trump, let's take a look at a couple of recent polls, which may or may not be more reliable than the snarky social media comments I've been seeing.

First, a Fox News poll, which was taken December 8-11. Here's the small print stuff: 1000 registered voters were surveyed via randomly selected landline (221 people) and cellphone (779) numbers which were proportionally distributed across states to align with the number of each state's voters. The margin of error is +/- 3%.

Here's the down and dirty: 89% are following the inquiry closely, and

• 50% believe Trump should be impeached and removed from office; 46% do not. Of those who do not, 82% think he shouldn't be impeached at all, while 9% think impeachment - but not removal from office - is the right thing to do. 

On the president's behavior?

• 53% believe he has abused the powers of his office; 50% believe he has obstructed justice;  48% believe he has obstructed Congress, and 45% believe he has committed bribery;
• 60% do not believe it's appropriate for a president to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival; and.
• 47% believe he held up military aid to Ukraine to pressure them to investigate his political rival, and 58% believe that is not something that presidents typically do.

And, on Congress?

• 49% say the Democrats really believe that Trump did something impeachable, while 43% believe they are simply trying to hurt him politically, while
• 36% say the Republicans really believe Trump didn't do anything impeachable, while 52% believe they are simply trying to protect him politically. 

Next, we have a WaPo-ABC News poll, conducted December 10-15. Small print stuff: This one was also a phone survey, with 1,003 adults responding,  70% of whom were reached via cell and 30% via landline. The margin of error is +/- 3.5%.

In this poll, where 62% of respondents have been following the impeachment inquiry closely,

• 49% say the president should be impeached and removed from office, 46% say no; these are within the margin of error for the survey; and
• regardless of how respondents feel about impeachment, 51% say that Congress should censure him, while 42% say no. 

On the president's behaviors?

• 49% believe he improperly pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son;
• 53% disapprove of how he's handled the impeachment inquiry;
• 49% believe he tried to interfere in the impeachment inquiry; and
• 71% say Trump should allow his top aides to testify in the Senate

And on Congress?

• 49% disapprove of the way the Democrats have handled the inquiry;
• 52% disapprove of the way the Republicans have handled it;
• 55% think the hearings have been fair to the president; and
• 62% believe he will get a fair trial in the Senate 

And, sometime later today, we'll have the answer on the two articles of impeachment from the House, and then if all goes as expected, we'll have a limited, very partisan trial in the Senate come January. 

Oh -- on those social media comments I referenced at the top of the post? From my feeds,a significant majority - I'd peg it at 85% or better -  of the people commenting on impeachment-related posts are more interested in denigrating their fellow Americans than they are in discussing impeachment.  

See you later for Wondering on Wednesday.