WASHINGTON – Support for a Democratic effort to impeach President Donald Trump over his asking Ukrainian and Chinese leaders to investigate political rival Joe Biden continues to grow nationally, with a new poll showing half of all voters approving of it.

The polling firm Morning Consult, in connection with the Washington, D.C., publication Politico, surveyed 1,991 registered voters online Monday and Tuesday and found that 50% of respondents not only support impeachment — which would result in the U.S. House bringing charges against the president — but also support Trump's removal from office in a trial on those charges by the U.S. Senate.

The poll showed approximately 43% of those surveyed oppose either impeachment or removal with 7 percent undecided. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

The new poll is just one of several that have shown an uptick in support since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry on Sept. 24. She made the announcement following a whistleblower’s allegations that Trump had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July 25 call to investigate Biden, the former vice president and a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, and Biden’s son, Hunter.

The website FiveThirtyEight.com, which compiles polling data and does statistical analysis, has a running average of polls on impeachment. As of Wednesday, it showed that 49% support impeachment and 43% don’t support, which is a sharp turnaround from where it had been.

On Sept. 19, as the whistleblower report began to come to light, 51% opposed impeaching Trump and 40% supported it.

Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong in the call to Zelenskiy, despite a summary of the call — which he released — indicating that he asked the Ukrainian president for an investigation into Biden as a “favor” at a time when Ukraine was awaiting millions in U.S. aid.

It is against the law to solicit anything of value to an American political campaign from a foreign government.

Trump said last week he not only thought it was proper for him to make such a request but also urged China, a communist country with a long history of antagonizing the U.S., to investigate the Bidens to determine whether they committed any corrupt acts during Joe Biden’s time as vice president.

While Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company and was part of a hedge fund with Chinese investors, there has been no evidence outlined publicly that he or Joe Biden did anything corrupt or illegal. Biden helped oust a Ukrainian prosecutor, for instance, but there was no active investigation into Hunter Biden’s energy company at the time and the U.S. and several European countries were eager to move out the prosecutor, feeling he wasn’t tough enough on corruption.

Fact checking reports have also said that Trump and his allies have made false claims about Hunter Biden's dealings in China as well.

FiveThirtyEight.com's average on impeachment polls not only shows support having swelled among Democrats — from 72% to 82% since Sept. 19 — but also among other political blocs. Among self-described independents, support for impeachment has gone from 34% to 44%, and among Republicans it has increased from 10% to 14%.

Read more:

China rejects Trump's request to investigate Joe Biden, hoping to steer clear of U.S. politics

Donald Trump impeachment inquiry: White House says 'no' to Nancy Pelosi. China says 'no' to Joe Biden probe

Contact Todd Spangler:tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler. Read more onMichigan politics and sign up for ourelections newsletter.