Democrats in Congress have launched a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The inquiry was sparked by a whistleblower complaint centered on a phone call in which Trump asked Ukraine's president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, one of Trump's political rivals.

Forty-five percent of respondents to a SurveyMonkey Audience poll conducted Wednesday and Thursday said they believed that the House of Representatives should impeach the president.

A majority — 53% — backed the launch of an impeachment inquiry in the House.

This may come at the peril of Democrats: A plurality thought this might hurt them electorally.

We also asked: "What should the consequences be for a public official who encourages a foreign power to intervene in an upcoming domestic election in their favor?"

Forty-nine percent said such an official should be removed. Just 6% said that wouldn't warrant any action.

Most Americans in a new Insider poll supported launching an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, but they worried about the repercussions.

A formal impeachment inquiry into Trump was announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday. It came in the wake of a whistleblower complaint from an intelligence official alleging that Trump had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Trump initially acknowledged discussing his political rival in a phone call with the Ukrainian leader, and the White House on Wednesday released a summary of the call that confirmed it. Trump has denied wrongdoing in connection to the call.

When asked: "Impeachment is the first step in the process of removing a president from office. Do you think the House of Representatives should impeach President Trump?"

Respondents were considerably more in favor than has been seen in other polling recently. It's unclear, however, whether this is a result of sampling, phrasing, or a genuine shift in opinion.

Overall, 45% of respondents supported impeachment, with 29% of respondents saying "strongly."

Overall, 30% of respondents opposed impeachment, with 20% of respondents saying "strongly."

Twenty-five percent did not know or neither supported nor opposed impeachment.

The poll was conducted Wednesday and Thursday, after Pelosi's announcement but as the news was still developing. Forty-one percent of respondents identified as a Democratic likely voter, compared with 31% who identified as a Republican likely voter. The rest said they were unlikely to vote in a 2020 caucus or primary or declined to say.

Majorities think launching an inquiry is the right thing to do, and most aren't familiar with the Ukraine situation

The numbers become clearer when it comes to merely launching a formal impeachment inquiry, as Pelosi announced. An impeachment inquiry is an investigation that the House will use to decide whether to impeach the president.

We asked: "Do you believe launching a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump for soliciting foreign interference in a US election is the right thing to do?"

33% said "definitely yes."

20% said "probably yes."

15% said "probably not."

18% said "definitely not."

That's a significant majority in favor of launching the investigation. Overall, Americans are generally unfamiliar with the incident in question.

We also asked: "How familiar would you say you are with the situation stemming from President Trump's conversation with Ukrainian President Zelensky related to Democratic candidate Joe Biden?"

Just 33% of respondents said they were "extremely" or "very" familiar.

If Trump is found to have done what the whistleblower said he did, large majorities of Americans back serious consequences

Respondents were asked, "What should the consequences be for a public official who encourages a foreign power to intervene in an upcoming domestic election in their favor?" before they were asked about more in-depth detail of the impeachment inquiry.

The results were squarely unambiguous:

Merely 6% said "I do not think that warrants any action."

11% said "I think the matter should be looked into but don't see any immediate issue."

19% said "I think that merits investigation and possibly censure, penalties or discipline."

49% said "I think that merits investigation and possibly removal from office."

That majority in favor of serious consequences for that hypothetical action held among those who said their political beliefs were conservative: Twenty-six percent said it'd merit investigation and possible discipline, and 25% said it'd merit investigation and possible removal.

There's a chance this blows back on Democrats electorally

Democrats have cast their lot in with impeachment, but do so at their peril.

While majorities in the poll said launching an impeachment inquiry was the right thing to do, fewer saw electoral upside for Democrats in doing so.

We asked: "Do you believe launching a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump will overall work out in Democrats' favor electorally?"

10% said "definitely would."

22% said "probably would."

24% said "probably would not."

19% said "definitely would not."

This paints an interesting series of battle lines for the 753 respondents who knew their opinion about both the rectitude and electoral peril of an impeachment inquiry.

Here's how they viewed the exercise:

38% thought an inquiry was the right thing to do and would help Democrats electorally.

19% thought an inquiry was the right thing to do but would hurt Democrats electorally.

7% thought an inquiry is the wrong thing to do but would help Democrats electorally.

37% thought an inquiry was the wrong thing to do and would hurt Democrats electorally.

Read more:

A formal impeachment inquiry has been launched: Here's everything we know about the whistleblower complaint and Trump's phone call with Ukraine's president

30 Republican Senators might vote to impeach Trump if the ballot were secret, GOP source says

Trump aides quickly regretted publishing the Ukraine call that has intensified calls for his impeachment, report says

SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn't try to weight its sample based on race or income. Total 1,096 respondents collected September 25-26, 2019, a margin of error plus or minus 3.04 percentage points with a 95% confidence level. Download the respondent-level data here.