New national polls show about half of all Americans want president Donald Trump impeached and removed from office and affirms what is now a clear trend among the American public.

The new CNN poll released Tuesday found half of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll released the same day also found almost similar results, but also showed support for impeaching and removing Trump rising to new highs among independents.

These polls confirm the findings of other polls within the month such as that by Fox News released Oct. 10 and by the Gallup organization a week later.

CNN said this poll conducted by SSRS from Oct. 17 to 20 represents a new high in CNN polling on the topic. The results are also the first time support for impeachment and removal has significantly outpaced opposition. Among other key poll findings:

87% of Democrats favor impeachment and removal

50% of independents feel the same way

6% of Republicans hold this view; this number compares to the 14% who said so in a September CNN poll

56% of women support impeachment and removal

44% of men hold the same opinion

68% of nonwhites support impeachment and removal

40% of whites support it

As for the festering Ukraine scandal that triggered the impeachment inquiry, 49% of those polled believe Trump used his office improperly to gain political advantage against a potential 2020 opponent in his interactions with the President of Ukraine.

A further 43% now say Trump didn’t use the presidency improperly. This figure compares to the previous 39%. CNN said the increase was largely caused by a 16 point increase in the number of Republicans who say Trump didn't improperly use the presidency (from 71% to 87%).

Overall, 50% of respondents said the things Trump has said publicly about his handling of U.S. relations with Ukraine are mostly false. A further 44%, think Trump is mostly telling the truth.

Photo: AFP / MANDEL NGAN

Of this group, 86% of Republicans say Trump's public statements have been mostly true while 83% of Democrats say mostly false.

The new Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from Oct. 18 to 22 reveals support for impeaching Trump surged among political independents and increased by three percentage points overall since last week.

Overall, 46% of Americans say they support impeachment and 40% say they oppose it. The Reuters/Ipsos poll shows support for impeachment remained steady among Republicans and Democrats over the past week but jumped among independent. It shows 45% of independents saying they support impeachment. On the other hand, 32% said they oppose it, which is the strongest level of support in more than a year.

More than 1 in 3 independents have said they are in favor of impeachment in more than a dozen previous Reuters/Ipsos polls since June 2018. Independents helped Trump narrowly win the White House in 2016 and Trump will need them again to be re-elected.