Majority of young voters want Trump impeached, removed from office, poll finds

Joey Garrison | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Why a president can be impeached and remain in office Impeaching a U.S. president might not be the be-all-end-all for their career. We explain why this is the case.

BOSTON — By a nearly 2-to-1 margin, more young voters support than oppose the impeachment of President Donald Trump and his removal from office, according to a new national poll released Monday by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.

The poll, which isolated voters ages 18 to 29, found 52 percent of all eligible youth voters and 58 percent of likely youth voters in the 2020 presidential general election believe Trump should be impeached and removed from office.

Twenty-seven percent of all youth voters and 28 percent of likely general election voters disagreed that he should be impeached and removed. The remaining said they did not know, didn't care or declined to answer the question about impeachment.

The findings show a stronger preference for Trump's impeachment among young people than older voters. It's consistent with the leftward political shift of young voters, who supported Democratic candidates in record numbers during the 2018 midterm.

More: 'I think they will decide the race': Can young voters again push Democrats to victory in 2020?

More: How to stay updated on USA TODAY's impeachment coverage

"Clearly, the majority of support for impeachment and now removal is coming from younger cohorts," said John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. "That's been consistent over the course of the summer and it remains consistent."

Public hearings are set to continue this week in the Democrat-controlled House impeachment inquiry into Trump's dealings with Ukraine.

An ABC-Ipsos Public Affairs poll of Americans — not just youth — released Monday found 51 percent believe Trump should be impeached by the House and removed from office by the Senate. That's compared to 25 percent who said Trump did nothing wrong related to Ukraine, 13 percent who said Trump's actions were wrong but he should neither be impeached nor removed, and 6 percent who said he should be impeached but not removed.

The Harvard poll, an online survey of 2,075 young people between Oct. 15 and Oct. 29, was also conducted by Ipsos and organized by students from the Harvard Public Opinion Project. The poll, which used a sample representative of the U.S. population, has a 3 percent margin of error.

Like all voters, the impeachment question among young people runs along party lines, with 84 percent of young likely Democratic voters saying they support Trump's impeachment and 73 percent of young Republicans saying they oppose impeachment. Forty-three percent of young people who identified as independents said they back Trump's impeachment, compared to 27 percent who said they don't.

But only 24 percent of young voters identified as Republicans, the poll found. Forty percent of young voters said they are Democrats, while 35 percent said they are independent or unaffiliated with a major party.

More: Poll: 70% of Americans say Trump's Ukraine actions were 'wrong,' 51% want him removed

Engagement among young voters is on the rise, as evident by youth turnout more than doubling during the 2018 midterms compared to 2014. The pattern is expected to continue into 2020.

Della Volpe said the youth enthusiasm on display in 2018 has spilled into the impeachment trials. "Young people are not just responding, but they are shaping a larger public narrative, or beginning to."

Among other findings in the poll, more young people indicated they prefer a pragmatic approach rather than a progressive approach to politics — despite the popularity U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren enjoy among young Democrats.

The poll found 40 percent of young voters prefer policies that "stand a good chance of being achieved as opposed to sweeping changes that will be difficult to carry out." In contrast, 34 percent said they prefer the alternative "big structural policy changes that address the urgency of the problems" but won't be easy to carry out.

Although young Democrats showed a preference for progressive over pragmatic politics, it was perhaps surprisingly only narrowly — 39 percent said they prefer policies that stand a good chance of being achieved, while 45 percent said they favor "big structural policy changes."

Other findings include:

Electoral College : Forty percent of youth voters said they support the dismantling of the Electoral College in favor of a winner-take all system to elect presidents. Twenty-four percent said they were unsure. Support for dismantling was high among likely Democratic voters, 63 percent, and smaller among likely Republican voters, 24 percent.

: Forty percent of youth voters said they support the dismantling of the Electoral College in favor of a winner-take all system to elect presidents. Twenty-four percent said they were unsure. Support for dismantling was high among likely Democratic voters, 63 percent, and smaller among likely Republican voters, 24 percent. Assault weapon ban : A slight majority of young people polled, 53 percent, said they support banning the sale of assault weapons. Thirty percent said they opposed. Seventy-five percent of likely Democratic youth voters said they support an assault weapon ban while 60 percent of likely Republican youth voters said they opposed a ban.

: A slight majority of young people polled, 53 percent, said they support banning the sale of assault weapons. Thirty percent said they opposed. Seventy-five percent of likely Democratic youth voters said they support an assault weapon ban while 60 percent of likely Republican youth voters said they opposed a ban. Eliminating private health insurance: Thirty-eight percent of young people polled said they support the elimination of private health insurance so that all American receive health care from the federal government. Thirty-two percent said they opposed. Eliminating private health care insurance was supported among 57 percent of young Democrats polled and opposed by 62 percent of young Republicans.

Reach Joey Garrison and on Twitter @joeygarrison.