Poll shows just 36% favor impeachment vote

President Donald Trump (White House photo)

Polls gauging Americans' support of the Democrats' impeachment investigation have varied according to how the question is asked.

Most have asked, "Do you support or oppose impeaching Trump?" But a new poll by Suffolk University for USA Today that gave respondents three options may provide a clearer picture of what the nation thinks, writes the Washington Examiner's Byron York.

A new poll, however, addresses some of the nuance behind public opinion on the president and Ukraine.

It found just 36 percent say the House should vote to impeach.

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The survey gave 1,000 registered voters the opportunity to choose among the following three options,

The House of Representatives should vote to impeach President Trump.
• The House should continue investigating Trump, but not vote to impeach him.
• Congress should drop its investigations into President Trump and administration.

Twenty-two percent said the House should continue investigation but not impeach, and 37% said the House should drop its investigations. The remaining 5% did not have an answer or refused to give one.

Among Democrats, 70% said the House should vote to impeach, while just 8% of Republicans and 22% of independents favored an impeachment vote.

The survey found 21% of Democrats favored more investigation but not impeachment. Just 15% of Republicans and 34% of independents agreed.

A mere 8% of Democrats favored dropping the House investigations, compared to 71% of Republicans and 36% of independents.

Forty-one percent of women supported a House vote to impeach, while just 31% of men did.

York wrote that the poll, offering several options, shows there is "a range of opinions among voters that is more complex than much of the yes-impeach-no-don't-impeach commentary in the media today."

However, he said, the Suffolk questions leave at least one issue unclear.

Do those who say the House should "continue investigating Trump, but not vote to impeach him" believe there should never be a vote.

He said the poll's question about the phone conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that is at the heart of the impeachment inquiry sheds some light.

The poll asks: "The White House has released a transcript summary of a July 25th phone call in which President Trump encouraged the Ukrainian president to pursue investigations involving Democratic rival Joe Biden, and hacking allegations in the 2016 election. Which comes closest to your view? A) The phone conversation is an impeachable offense. B) The phone conversation was wrong but doesn't rise to an impeachable offense. C) There was nothing wrong with the phone conversation."

Just 38 percent said the conversation is an impeachable offense.

Another 21 percent said the conversation was wrong but not impeachable, and 31% said there was nothing wrong with the conversation.

"Just as they did after the release of the Mueller report, Democrats now hope televised hearings will convince Americans that the president must be impeached," York writes.

"It didn't work out before. Now, the Suffolk poll suggests Democrats should be cautious as they try again."