Half of voters say the whistleblower at the center of President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE's Ukraine controversy should publicly testify before Congress, according to a Hill-HarrisX poll released Tuesday.

The survey found that 51 percent of registered voters said the whistleblower should testify in a public setting on Capitol Hill, while 35 percent said the person should testify privately in a congressional committee hearing.

Just 14 percent of respondents said the whistleblower should not testify at all.

Democrats were the most divided: Forty-eight percent said the whistleblower should give public testimony, compared to 43 percent who said private testimony is preferable.

A little more than half of Republicans (54 percent) and independents (52 percent) want the whistleblower to testify in public.

The survey comes as House Democrats weigh whether to mask the whistleblower's identity.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Democratic lawmakers are taking some precautions to protect the whistleblower over concerns that their Republican colleagues could leak the person's identity.

According to officials familiar with the situation, those steps include distorting the whistleblower’s appearance, having them testify in a remote location or holding a staff-only session that would prohibit lawmakers from attending and asking questions.

The whistleblower alleged in the August complaint, made public last month, that Trump tried to pressure Ukraine into digging up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenFormer Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick Bloomberg rolls out M ad buy to boost Biden in Florida MORE. The complaint prompted Democrats to launch an impeachment inquiry into the president.

The Hill-HarrisX survey was conducted online among 1,000 voters from Oct. 6-7. The margin of error for the full sampling is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

—Tess Bonn