Marquette Poll: Wisconsin Voters’ Support For Impeachment Declining

Support for the impeachment of President Donald Trump is slipping among Wisconsin voters, according to the latest Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday.

The poll, conducted from Nov. 13 to 17, included 801 Wisconsin voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percent.

The poll found that 40 percent of voters believe Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 53 percent oppose impeachment and removal. In Marquette’s October survey, 44 percent supported impeachment, while 51 percent were opposed.

Longtime Marquette pollster Charles Franklin said the poll and the impeachment hearings’ public testimony began the same day.

“Everyone was interviewed after that first day of testimony, but they certainly haven’t heard the bulk of the testimony,” Franklin said. “As testimony goes on, does the public move in one direction or another as they hear and have a chance to absorb what that testimony is?”

Six percent of those surveyed said they didn’t know whether Trump should be impeached.

The impeachment hearings are based on allegations that Trump asked his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential candidate and political rival, and Biden’s son. About two-thirds of Wisconsin voters said they are paying close or fairly close attention to the impeachment hearings.

Support and opposition to impeachment and removal are split along party lines, as is opinion about Trump’s alleged offenses. Eighty percent of Democrats think Trump asked for an investigation of his political rivals, compared to 51 percent of Republicans who say he did not.

Opposition to impeachment got stronger this month among Republicans and people who lean Republican, as did Trump’s favorability among GOP voters.

“You’ve got Republicans coming home to Trump,” Franklin said. “We saw that with impeachment as well, that Republicans were a bit, not a lot, but a bit stronger for the president there.”

Leading Presidential Primary Pack

Among Democratic primary voters in Wisconsin, four candidates came out on top: Joe Biden, Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

But for the first time since Marquette began polling on the race, they all trailed Trump in hypothetical general election matchups.

In Marquette’s latest survey, Biden trailed Trump 44 percent to 47 percent, Sanders trailed 45 percent to 48 percent, Warren trailed 43 percent to 48 percent and Buttigieg trailed 39 percent to 47 percent. Biden’s total has dipped seven points since Marquette’s August poll.

Those head-to-head results were within the survey’s margin of error.

Editor’s note: An earlier version misstated President Trump’s support against Bernie Sanders. It has been update.