The poll says 33 percent of Americans think the president should be impeached. Poll: One-third say impeach Obama

One third of Americans think President Barack Obama should be impeached, a new poll says.

According to a CNN/ORC International poll released Friday, 33 percent of Americans think the president should be impeached and removed from office, compared with 65 percent who say they don’t support impeachment. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans say they support impeaching Obama, compared with just 35 percent of independent voters and 13 percent of Democrats.


When asked about when Congress should attempt to impeach a president, 79 percent of Americans said it should be used only if there is evidence of a serious crime — such as treason or bribery. Eighteen percent said impeachment could appropriately be used to registered dissatisfaction with White House policies.

A plurality of Americans — 45 percent — believe Obama has gone too far in expanding his presidential powers. Thirty percent said the president has been about right in terms of presidential powers, while 22 percent he has not gone far enough.

The numbers generally fall in line with CNN results from the past two presidencies — 30 percent of Americans support impeachment for former President George W. Bush in 2006 and 29 percent support impeachment for former President Bill Clinton in 1998.

( Also on POLITICO: Obama's immigration rhetoric: Then and now)

In 2006, 48 percent of Americans said Bush had gone too far in expanding the powers of the presidency, compared with 34 percent who said he was about right and 14 percent who said he hadn’t gone far enough.

A Fox News poll released earlier this week reported that 36 percent of Americans favored impeaching Obama, compared with 61 percent who said they opposed impeachment.

The Democratic National Committee said Friday’s results show that the American are against both impeachment and the speaker’s lawsuit against Obama.

“As the CNN poll finds, the majority of Americans support the President taking action if Congress will not and they oppose the GOP’s sham lawsuit and talk of impeachment,” DNC national press secretary Michael Czin said in an email to POLITICO. “The American people want the President, and Congress, to tackle important issues, like commonsense immigration reform, equal pay and raising the minimum wage – so while Republicans waste time on political stunts, those are the issues the President and Democrats will continue to fight for.”

The CNN survey was conducted July 18-20 with 1,012 adults on landlines and cellphones. The margin for error is plus-or-minus 3 points.

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This article tagged under: Barack Obama

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