Monmouth Poll Finds Majority Support Trump Impeachment, Voter Fraud Beliefs Persist

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. — Polling data from Monmouth University found that 56% of Americans approve of the House of Representatives impeaching former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting a violent mob to storm the United States Capitol. 

Public support for Trump’s second impeachment is higher than it was when the House impeached him in Jan. 2020. At the time, 53% of Americans expressed support for Trump’s impeachment compared to 46% who disapproved. 

The number of respondents who identified as Republican and support Trump’s impeachment also rose since Jan. 2020, with 13% in favor of the move compared to the 8% who favored impeachment, according to Monmouth. Roughly the same number of Democrats and independents approved of both Trump impeachments. 

Fifty-three percent of respondents said Trump’s conduct was “definitely grounds for impeachment,” while 30% said his conduct was “improper” but that he did not deserve impeachment. Fifteen percent maintained Trump’s conduct was proper. 

The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute from Jan. 21 to Jan. 24, 2021, with a national random sample of 809 adults aged 18 and older. Monmouth’s full sample was weighted for region, age, education, gender and race based on U.S. Census information. 

“There is somewhat more agreement that Trump did something wrong than there was with the first impeachment,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute said in a statement. “But there are still a good number of Republican stalwarts who continue to stand with the former president regardless.” 

After Trump’s Senate acquittal in Feb. 2020, Monmouth found 46% of respondents believed his actions merited impeachment while 30% believed they were improper but not impeachable. Twenty-two percent maintained Trump had no wrongdoing in his July 2018 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a figure that is significantly higher than the 15% who hold that belief in this case. 

Thirty-six percent of Republican respondents to Monmouth’s polling said they found no wrongdoing by Trump regarding the insurrection charge. This figure is also significantly lower than the 56% who said Trump had no wrongdoing regarding his first impeachment charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. 

During Trump’s first impeachment trial, a slim majority of the public supported removing Trump from office at a margin of 49% in favor and 48% opposed. This time around, 52% indicated they support convicting Trump in the Senate compared to 44% who support his acquittal. 

Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 preceding the attempted Capitol insurrection involved stoking the belief that voter fraud contributed to President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Although Monmouth found that 65% of respondents believe Biden won fairly, 32% believed Biden only won the election due to voter fraud. 

“A number of ostensible leaders in the Republican Party continue to peddle this false narrative and many more who know this claim is wrong have not been particularly outspoken in disavowing it,” Murray said in a statement. “Their fellow partisans in the American public are simply following that lead.” 

This unfounded belief was higher among respondents who identified as Republican, with 72% maintaining that Biden’s victory was due to voter fraud. Among the Monmouth respondents who still believe Trump lost due to fraud, a third of them indicated they will never accept Biden as president. 

At the end of his term, Trump’s job approval rating stood at 41% in approval and 56% in disapproval, according to 31 national polls conducted by Monmouth during his presidency. Approval of Trump throughout his term ranged from 32% to 46%, while his disapproval rate ranged from 46% to 54%. 

“Not once during Trump’s term did he have a majority of Americans behind him. And yet, a sizable share of the public still gives him at least a nominal thumbs up despite the chaos of the last four years,” Murray said in a statement. “On this metric alone, this has to go down as one of the most — if not the most — divisive presidencies in our nation’s history.”