Reuters/Ipsos Core Political Survey: Impeachment Tracker (01/29/2020)

Washington, DC, January 29, 2020 —  The latest Core Political survey from Reuters/Ipsos shows that as the impeachment trial in the Senate continues, American public opinion on what the outcome should be remains the same. Two in 5 believe the president should be removed from office (44%), 16% support censuring the president, and 30% believe the charges against him should be dismissed. This sentiment falls largely along party lines, as Democratic registered voters are most likely to support Trump’s removal from office (78%) and Republican registered voters are most likely to support dismissing the charges (65%). Most Americans say that the impeachment process has not changed their view of the president (59%), but about 1 in 5 say it has made them either more supportive (20%) or less supportive (17%) of him.  

About half of Americans say they are increasingly convinced that the president has done something wrong (53%), and a third (34%) of Americans say the opposite - that they are increasingly convinced of the president’s innocence. About half of Americans say they that they are becoming more and more sure that Trump has committed an impeachable offense and should be removed from office (48%), while a smaller figure believes the president has not done anything worthy of impeachment and should retain his position (38%). With regards to the specific charges in the impeachment proceedings, about half of Americans believe that President Trump is guilty of obstructing Congress (53%). Slightly more believe he is guilty of the charge of abusing his office (57%).  

The president’s approval rating has remained steady, with a 39% approval rating among all Americans. Over half (55%) say they do not approve of how he is handling his job as president. Much like opinion on the outcome of the impeachment trial, approval for the president falls along party lines. Among Republican registered voters, 81% approve Trump’s job in office. Among Democratic registered voters, only 9% do.   

Thinking about the state of the country more generally, 58% of Americans think the country is going off on the wrong track, and 29% think it is headed in the right direction. Republican registered voters are more likely than the rest of the population to feel optimistic about the country’s direction (61% feel it is going in the right direction), though almost a third feel it is headed in the wrong direction (31%). Among Democratic registered voters, the majority (86%) believe the country is headed the wrong way, and only 1 in 10 think it is going in a good direction (8%).  

Healthcare continues to be the issue that Americans say is the most important issue facing the country (22%). It is followed by the economy and jobs (16%) and immigration (11%). Democratic registered voters are even more likely to be concerned about healthcare, with almost a third of them pointing to it as the country’s biggest problem (30%). Democratic registered voters are also worried about the economy and jobs (15%) and the environment (14%). For Republican registered voters, healthcare is also a top issue (12%) but it falls behind immigration (24%) and the economy and jobs (17%).  

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between January 27-28, 2020 on behalf of Thomson Reuters. For this survey, a sample of 1,118 adults age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. The sample includes 950 registered voters, 413 Democratic registered voters, 395 Republican registered voters, and 95 independent registered voters. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Americans been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error. The poll also has a credibility interval of ± 3.6 percentage points for registered voters, ± 5.5 percentage points for Democratic registered voters, ± 5.6 percentage points for Republican registered voters, and ± 11.5 percentage points for independent registered voters.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

Kate Silverstein
Media Relations, US
Public Affairs
+1 718 755-8829
[email protected]

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