Remember when the reason Democrats shouldn’t launch an impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump was that the public wasn’t behind it? Those days are definitely past. Yet another poll shows support for the inquiry rising, particularly among independents. Support for impeachment and removal is not quite as high or growing as fast, but as we’ve seen, things can change.
The impeachment inquiry gets 55% approval in the new Quinnipiac University poll, with 43% disapproval. That’s up from 51%-45% last week. Approval among independents rose from 50% to 58%, a number that should (but won’t) make some congressional Republicans stop and think. Support for impeachment and removal rose from 46% last week to 48% this week.
Republicans continue to overwhelmingly—overwhelmingly as in 90% disapproval of the inquiry and 91% opposition to impeachment and removal—stand by their man. Even 72% of them claim that Trump put the nation’s interest above his personal interest in his dealings with Ukraine, with 17% recognizing that Trump put his own personal interest first. (No word on how many of those people are in the Mick Mulvaney “get over it” territory.)
The Trump base is big enough that approval of the impeachment inquiry can’t keep growing 4 points a week indefinitely, but that 8-point rise in approval among independents is … striking, and suggests the numbers could keep moving. Additionally, this poll was taken before Ambassador William Taylor’s bombshell testimony. There is a ceiling to impeachment support, just as there’d be a ceiling to prosecuting Trump for openly shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue, but it doesn’t look like we’re there yet.