48 Percent of US Voters Support Biden Impeachment Inquiry: Survey
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Just less than half of registered voters in a new survey said they support the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into US President Joe Biden — but they are split on whether the investigations has the right motivations.
The Morning Consult poll found 48 percent of voters support the inquiry. Of the people surveyed, 10 percent have no opinion on the matter and 42 percent oppose the investigation, The Hill reported.
Democrats were more likely to oppose the inquiry than Republicans — with 63 percent of registered Republican voters saying they supported the impeachment probe. Only 36 percent of Democrats said the same, according to the poll.
“More than 3 in 5 Republicans, almost half of independents, and — perhaps surprisingly — 36 percent of Democrats approve the inquiry,” researchers said of the survey results. “That figure among Democrats at the nascent stage of this impeachment probe is three times the size of the Republican support for House Democrats’ 2019 Ukraine-related query into then-President Donald Trump in October 2019.”
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last week directed three House committees to launch the impeachment inquiry into the foreign business dealings of Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who was recently indicted on federal gun charges.
The House Oversight Committee will hold its first hearing Sept. 28. The panel also has plans to subpoena Hunter Biden’s bank records soon.
Voters are split on whether they think the investigation has proper motivations, the survey found. Roughly 74 percent of Republicans said they think the investigation is caused by evidence of wrongdoing by Biden, while 66 percent of Democrats said the investigation’s inventions are rooted in damage to his career.
Independent voters, however, were evenly split. The poll shows that 40 percent of independents believe there is evidence of wrongdoing, 39 percent think there is motivation to damage Biden’s career and 21 percent said they “don’t know” or have “no opinion.”
“The figures among independents, a group that already dislikes Biden, may offer some solace for the President when it comes to the impeachment proceedings’ impact on his 2024 standing,” the pollster said.
“However, the survey’s findings, particularly the views among Democratic voters, should alarm Biden and his party,” Morning Consult added. “More immediately, (the investigation) does appear to be giving a public boost to McCarthy, the embattled House speaker who is struggling to manage his unruly GOP caucus and may not even have the requisite votes to impeach the president.”
Following McCarthy’s announcement of the impeachment probe, the Speaker’s popularity increased to 49 percent — up from 42 percent — among Republican voters, the poll found.
The Morning Consult survey was conducted Sept. 15-17 among a sample of 1,933 registered voters. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 2 percentage points.