Majority of Americans say Trump should be removed after Capitol siege: POLL
A majority of the country believes President Donald Trump should be removed before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20 and two-thirds hold him accountable for the violent insurrection on Capitol Hill, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday.
© Jim Bourg/Reuters
President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a rally to contest
the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the
U.S. Congress, in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.
In the new survey, which was conducted by Ipsos in partnership with
ABC News using Ipsos' Knowledge Panel, 56% of Americans think the
sitting commander-in-chief should be removed from office before the
official transfer of power in less than two weeks, while 43% say he
should not. Among those who say Trump should not be removed immediately,
nearly half (45%) nevertheless say his actions this week were wrong.
MORE: Members of Trump Cabinet discussing invoking 25th Amendment: Sources
Ousting the current president before his term expires splits Americans
along partisan lines, with 94% of Democrats and only 13% of Republicans
supporting the move. A majority of independents -- 58% -- also back
removing him.
The end of Trump's turbulent tenure has been
marred by chaos. Earlier this week, throngs of pro-Trump loyalists,
spurred by the outgoing president at his "Save America Rally," besieged the U.S. Capitol complex -- overpowering police blockades, breaking windows and ransacking the halls and offices.
© Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
TOPSHOT - Supporters of US President Donald Trump protest inside the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.
In the aftermath of the riot on Capitol Hill, Trump is facing
pressure to resign, even from within his own ranks -- as sources tell
ABC News that his Cabinet and allies have discussed invoking the 25th Amendment, although it's unclear how extensive these conversations have been or whether Vice President Mike Pence supports such action.
Trump is also on the brink of being impeached for a second time as House Democrats ready impeachment charges that are expected to be introduced early this week.
At least one Senate Republican, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, said she wants Trump "out" in an interview with The Anchorage Daily News,
and Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Pat Toomey told Fox News this weekend that he
thinks Trump "committed impeachable offenses," before adding, "I don't
know what is going to land on the Senate floor." Neither have endorsed
the possibility of impeachment proceedings, yet.
MORE: This is what Trump told supporters before many stormed Capitol Hill Video: Biden considered Bernie Sanders for labor secretary (Reuters - US Video Online)
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Sixty-seven percent of Americans lay blame squarely at
Trump's feet for the Wednesday riot and the unprecedented breach that
led to the death of five, including a Capitol police officer who succumbed to injuries
suffered during the attack. This includes 52% who believe he shoulders a
great deal of the responsibility. Only 15% of those polled say that he
bears none of the blame.
The assault on the Capitol came as a
joint session of Congress was formalizing Biden's Electoral College
victory, which the president has assailed and challenged with unfounded
claims of fraud over the last two months. More than two-thirds of
Americans are not in agreement with the president, saying they believe
Biden's victory was legitimate. Still, among those still refusing to
accept Trump's loss nearly 3 in 4 are Republicans (73%). Meanwhile,
overwhelming majorities of Democrats (99%) and independents (75%) think
Biden's victory was legitimate.
The poll also asked who among a
range of prominent political figures -- such as Pence and Utah Sen. Mitt
Romney -- Americans trust to safeguard democracy.
© Pool/Saul Loeb/Pool via Reuters
Vice President Mike Pence hands the electoral certificate from the
state of Arizona to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, as he presides over a joint
session of Congress to certify the 2020 election results on Capitol Hill
Jan. 6, 2021.
With Biden set to take the helm in the White House in 10 days,
after four years of a presidency animated by deep divisions, he is the
only one with majority support on that question (53%). Still, reflecting
the political chasm he will seek to overcome, there are divisions in
how much Democrats (94%) and Republicans (14%) trust the incoming
president to protect democracy.
Overall, Biden fares far better
than Trump and congressional Republicans, with only 30% saying they
trust the president to defend democracy and 31% saying the same of
Republicans in Congress.
MORE: Trump allies helped plan, promote rally that led to Capitol attack
For Pence, who landed in the center of Trump's crosshairs for rejecting
his efforts to subvert the electoral process, there is slightly more
confidence in him than the president when it comes to safeguarding
democracy. After Trump relentlessly pressured an unabiding Pence to use
his ceremonial role presiding over Congress' counting of electoral votes
to hand the president a victory, nearly 4 in 10 Americans (39%) say
they trust the vice president with protecting democracy.
One of the least-trusted figures is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz,
who helped spearhead a failed effort to contest electoral votes in a
slate of battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia and
Pennsylvania. An overwhelming 71% of Americans say they don't trust him
to defend democracy, including 47% who don't trust him at all.
For Romney, the Utah senator who harshly rebuffed the efforts by Cruz
and a handful of other senators to try to derail Biden's win, 41% trust
him to preserve democracy.
© Erin Schaff/Pool via Getty Images
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks during a reconvening of a
joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College votes of the
2020 presidential election in the House chamber on Jan. 6, 2021.
Among Republican respondents, Pence performs best, with 73%
trusting him, compared to 71% for Trump, 57% for Cruz, 38% for Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and only 25% for Romney. In a surprising
turn, more than twice as many Democrats -- 55% -- put their faith in
Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.
Congressional
leaders in both parties also face a trust deficit among Americans.
McConnell ranks the lowest of all the individuals included in the survey
question about shielding American democracy at 22%. House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi is trusted by almost twice as many Americans as McConnell, with
40%.
MORE: Missed warning signs and failure to fortify US Capitol bewilder experts
Between congressional Democrats and Republicans, more Democrats say
they trust the members who represent them in the House and Senate than
Republicans. Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats (89%) believe in congressional
Democrats to protect democracy, while 71% of Republicans say the same
about members of the GOP in Congress.
The Supreme Court is most
trusted with 60% saying they have a great deal or good amount of trust
in the highest court in the land to protect democracy.
This
ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs'
KnowledgePanel® Jan. 8 to 9, 2021, in English and Spanish, among a
random national sample of 570 adults. Results have a margin of sampling
error of 4.7 points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are
30%-27%-36%, Democrats-Republicans-independents. See the poll's topline
results and details on the methodology here.
ABC News' John Santucci, Katherine Faulders, Emily Shapiro, Jonathan Karl and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
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