Donald Trump may have been impeached in the US House of Representatives, but it’s very unlikely he’ll be going anywhere soon.

Despite a recent CNN poll showing 51 per cent of respondents were in favour of the US Senate ousting Mr Trump, the requirements for removal skew heavily in the president’s favour.

How could Trump be removed?

Two-thirds of the Senate (67 members) must vote in favour of removing the president from office at the end of the impeachment trial. Currently, the Senate is comprised of 53 Republicans and 45 Democrats, which means at least 20 Republican senators would have to vote in favour of removing Mr Trump.

The two remaining senators are both independents, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Maine Senator Angus S King Jr, and both caucus with the Democratic party.

Will that happen?

No Republican members of the Senate have given any indication they intend to vote in favour of Mr Trump’s removal from office, so regardless of the information brought to light during the trial, Mr Trump’s role is almost assured.

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

Aside from Mr Trump, only two other US presidents have faced possible removal from office as a result of impeachment; Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Neither were removed from office. Mr Johnson narrowly avoided removal thanks to Kansas Senator Edmond Ross’s vote against his party. Mr Clinton was spared from removal by more than 20 votes on both articles of impeachment brought against him.

With the question of removal mostly a non-issue, what remains to be seen is whether the Senate trial will be quick or be dragged out.

Although a longer trial would allow for more detailed witness testimony and give senators more time to consider evidence presented by the House impeachment managers — which is something Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wants — a drawn out trial could hurt the presidential campaigns of the four Democratic senators competing to run against Mr Trump in the 2020 general election.