President Donald Trump (L) speaks at the White House on Nov. 25, 2019. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images); House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks to the media during her weekly press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Nov. 21, 2019. (Alex Edelman/Getty Images)

Impeachment Approval Average Is Now ‘Officially Under Water’

An aggregation of polls showed that support for impeaching President Donald Trump is now “officially under water,” according to RealClearPolitics.

Tom Bevan, the president and co-founder of the political website, made the assertion on Monday morning and included a screenshot of the “RCP average” that shows that 47 percent of Americans are opposed to removing Trump while 46 percent are in favor.

Two new polls from NPR/PBS/Marist (pdf) and USA Today/Suffolk were added to the average, said Bevan. The Marist poll, commissioned between Dec. 9 and Dec. 11, showed 49 percent of Americans opposed impeachment and 46 supported it, while the Suffolk survey, carried out between Dec. 10 and Dec. 14, revealed that 50 percent oppose the measure and 45 percent support it.

USA Today, in a writeup of the poll, reported that Americans were split on impeachment 47 percent to 46 percent in a survey in October.

“In the poll, sentiments divided along predictable partisan lines. Republicans by an overwhelming 89 percent-9 percent oppose a Senate vote that would remove Trump from office; Democrats by 81 percent-15 percent support it. Independents by 52 percent-41 percent oppose it,” wrote USA Today in an analysis.

The poll also found Americans don’t consider impeachment a “kitchen table issue” that affects everyday people on a daily basis.

In the poll, “Republicans put impeachment dead last,” according to USA Today. “Even among Democrats, impeachment is a less important concern than health care, gun control, education, the economy, immigration, and Social Security.”

The Marist poll, meanwhile, discovered that despite weeks of public hearings, “Americans’ views of impeachment are split and largely unchanged,” NPR wrote.

“It’s like the hearings have never happened,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, according to the broadcaster.“The arguments have only served to reinforce existing views, and everyone is rooting for their side.”

“There’s not a lot of persuasion going on,” Miringoff added.“This is definitely lining up to be all about the base. You can do all the message-testing and convincing and persuasion [efforts], but it’s going to be about targeting your group and making sure they show.”

Alex Foss, 28, a construction worker and Republican from Florida, said he hasn’t been watching the impeachment hearings.“I don’t think any American really watches C-SPAN, if we’re being honest with each other,” he told USA Today. He added Trump’s “witch hunt” description of the hearings are true.

A Democratic voter from Arizona, Kathleen McMinn, told the paper that she is “so upset with the Republican Party and how the others are not speaking up.”