Majority of Americans Says They Favor Conviction as Trump Impeachment Trial Begins: Poll

The survey found 56 percent favor the former US president’s conviction, the same percentage who said they supported it in an ABC News-Ipsos poll released Sunday.

The same percentage of respondents in the CBS poll also believed the president encouraged the violence by pro-Trump rioters at the US Capitol on Jan. 6. This included 88 percent of Democrats, 21 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of independents.

In January, Trump’s second impeachment, a historic first, charged him with inciting an insurrection against the United States. Conviction would permanently bar Trump, rumored to be mulling a 2024 bid, from public office, The Hill reported.

To secure the necessary two-thirds majority to convict Trump, 17 Republicans would need to back it, an outcome considered unlikely.

The poll results indicate the Republican base continues to back the former president and would take umbrage at GOP senators voting for conviction, with 71 percent saying they would view a vote for impeachment or conviction as an act of disloyalty.

After House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (Wyo.) became the highest-ranking Republican to vote for impeachment, the Wyoming GOP voted to censure her.

A slightly smaller percentage of Republicans, 73 percent, believe loyalty to Trump is either somewhat or very important, compared to 27 percent who believe it is not too or not at all important.

The poll also surveyed Republicans’ and Democrats’ respective views of one another and found that 57 percent of Republicans consider Democrats “enemies” compared to 43 percent who consider them “political opposition.” By contrast, 59 percent of Democrats consider Republicans “political opposition” compared to 41 percent who consider them “enemies.”

Pollsters surveyed 2,508 American adults from Feb. 5 to 8. The survey has a 2.3-point margin of error.