Number of Americans supporting Trump's impeachment and removal unchanged by hearings, poll finds

William Cummings | USA TODAY

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Support for President Donald Trump's impeachment remains at about 50% despite two weeks of testimony in public hearings that Democrats felt strongly bolstered their case, according to a CNN poll released Tuesday.

Half of Americans said Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 43% said he should not, exactly the result CNN got in a poll conducted from Oct. 17-20, before the hearings began.

Of those who support impeachment, 91% said they "strongly" felt that way, a one percentage point increase from the month before. Among those who oppose impeachment, the number who strongly felt that way climbed from 86% to 89%.

As has been the case with virtually every poll on impeachment, the numbers were clearly divided by party affiliation, race and gender. Among Democrats, 90% favored impeachment while 87% of Republicans were opposed. Independents were split, 46% to 47%.

Sixty-one percent of women and 40% of men said Trump should be removed from office, while 34% of women and 53% of men were opposed. Among non-whites, 65% support impeachment while 51% of whites are opposed.

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The demographic group most opposed to removing Trump was non-college educated whites at 56%.

More than three-quarters of Americans said they have been following the impeachment proceedings at least "somewhat closely" while 23% said they were not following too closely or not closely at all.

Trump is accused of using the power of his office to pressure Ukraine into opening investigations that stood to benefit him politically: one to look into an unsubstantiated theory that Ukraine, and not Russia, was behind the theft of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign in 2016, the other into an energy company whose board includes the son of former Vice President Joe Biden.

Trump has defended his calls for the investigations as efforts to combat corruption in a country receiving large amounts of U.S. assistance and has denied any political motivation.

But 56% of Americans told CNN's pollsters that they believed Trump acted "more to benefit himself politically" while 36% said they thought he was more interested in fighting corruption in Ukraine. And 53% said he had used the power of the presidency for political gain, while 42% said he "did not use the presidency improperly."

The poll found Trump's job approval rating at 42% and his job disapproval at 54%, within the range its polls have found for most of his presidency. Fifty-five percent approved of his handling of the economy, his highest mark in a CNN poll since April.

The poll was conducted from Nov. 21-24 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7%.

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