As House Democrats draft articles of impeachment against President Trump and prepare for a floor vote before Christmas, a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows that a majority of registered voters buy their central argument for impeachment: that Trump put his own interests above the national interest when he pressured Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.

Yet the poll also shows that Democrats have failed to translate that belief into broader support for impeachment, and that Americans remain too polarized and uncertain about key details to back Trump’s removal from office in the kind of numbers that could create real momentum as the process heads toward a Senate trial.

Asked whether Trump was “primarily acting in his own personal and political self-interest” in regard to Ukraine, 52 percent of registered voters said yes; only 35 percent said no. The gap among Independents was also sizable: 41 percent versus 27 percent. Even 15 percent of Republicans said that Trump was primarily looking out for himself.

But despite the fact that this was the central finding of the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment report — and is likely to be the ground on which the House formally votes to impeach — the overall needle on impeachment and removal has not moved since the previous Yahoo News/YouGov survey, which was conducted as televised hearings were wrapping up late last month. (The new poll was conducted from Dec. 4 to Dec. 6.)

Today, 47 percent of Americans are in favor of impeaching Trump in the House, compared to 37 percent who are opposed. The same 47 percent say he should be removed from office, which requires conviction after a trial in the Senate, while 39 percent say he should remain. Among registered voters, those numbers are even closer: 49 percent vs. 44 percent on impeachment and 47 percent vs. 45 percent on removal. Read more

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