A majority of polled Democrats say US President Donald Trump should be impeached and removed, but only 36 percent of independents are in favor of such an action, according to the latest Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey.
The survey – released on Friday -- also found that only 37 percent of the polled voters, however, support impeaching Trump while 43 percent of them want no action against the Republican president.
Twenty percent of respondents said Trump should be censured by Congress but he should not be impeached and removed.
According to the poll, which was conducted after special counsel Robert Mueller’s statement on Wednesday, some 68 percent said Democrats in Congress should accept Mueller’s finding that there was no criminal conspiracy and 65 percent said Democrats should accept Attorney General William Barr’s conclusion that Trump was not involved in obstruction of justice.
Congressional Democrats have taken a legal step to see all of Mueller’s evidence from his inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Calls for impeachment of Trump have grown among Democratic politicians in the wake of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final statement at the conclusion of the so-called Russia probe.
Mueller said on Wednesday that his team is not “confident” about Trump’s innocence, noting that not filing federal charges against a sitting president has been the Justice Department’s long standing policy.
“If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Mueller said in his first public appearance Wednesday after the conclusion of the so-called Russia probe. “Charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider.”
Mueller “could not clear the president, nor could he charge him — so he has handed the matter to Congress, which alone can act to deliver due process and accountability,” said 2020 White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday.
Another pro-impeachment Democrat, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, also reiterated her stance towards impeachment as some lawmakers were refusing to join the cause.
“American people deserve an open process to look at documents and hear from witnesses related to the Mueller investigation. So far, President Trump has stonewalled Congress. In doing so, he has left us with only one option: for Congress to begin impeachment proceedings,” she said.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who plays a key role in possible impeachment proceedings, has said that the investigations would continue, and voiced disappointment at Mueller’s recent statement.