Americans remain divided along party lines on President Donald Trump's approval rating, on whether he should be removed from office, or if he has done a good job on handling Iran, a new PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll shows.
The poll results, released early Wednesday, show an equal share, at 47% on each side, support either the Senate removing Trump from office through his upcoming impeachment trial or oppose removing him, the poll of 1,259 adults and 1,064 registered voters conducted from Jan. 7-12 shows, with an additional 6% undecided.
The numbers remain virtually unchanged from recent polls. In October, respondents were split with 48% on each side saying Trump should either be removed from office or stay and in December, 46% supported removing the president and 49% were against it.
The split occurred because of the widely divided party line opinions:
- Democrats: 85% support removing Trump, 11% oppose removal, 4% undecided.
- Republicans: 7% support removing him, 92% oppose removal, 1% undecided.
- Independents: 45% support removal, 47% oppose, 8% undecided.
"There's not a lot of movement," said Lee Miringoff, who directs the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, as day-to-day news about global tensions and impeachment are "reinforcing" opinions about Trump and hardening divisions.
Poll respondents also were deeply divided on how Trump is handling Iran. The poll was taken after the Jan. 3 airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Overall, 42% of respondents said they approve of Trump's performance with Iran, 49% said they do not approve, and 9% were unsure. By the numbers:
- Democrats: 10% approve of Trump's actions with Iran, 84% disapprove, 6% undecided.
- Republicans: 88% approve, 6% oppose removal, 6% undecided.
- Independents: 42% approve, 49% disapprove, 9% undecided.
Meanwhile, the president's approval ratings remain unchanged, with 41% saying they approve of what he's done in office and 53% saying they disapprove. The opinions on his job performance also fell in line with partisan politics, with 89% of Republicans saying they support Trump as president and 89% saying they do not.
The poll carried a margin of 3.5 percentage points among the sampling of adults and 3.8 points among the sampling of registered voters.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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