Seven out of 10 Trump voters OPPOSED storming of the US Capitol by MAGA mob - but they still want the president to finish out his term and not be impeached, survey finds
More than seven in 10 Republicans said they are opposed to the pro-Trump mob's storming of the United States Capitol on Wednesday though they also believe that the president should remain in office until his term ends in 11 days.
The Reuters/Ipsos survey asked 1,005 respondents their thoughts about Wednesday’s violent sacking of the Capitol building by a mob that was ginned up by Trump.
Of the 363 Republicans surveyed, 58 per cent said they strongly opposed the riot while another 13 per cent were ‘somewhat’ opposed.
Another 13 per cent ‘somewhat supported’ the riot while 9 per cent ‘strongly’ backed it, according to the survey.
More than seven in 10 Republicans said they are opposed to the pro-Trump mob's storming of the United States Capitol on Wednesday
Meanwhile, a majority of Americans - 57 per cent - want President Donald Trump to be immediately removed from office. Most of them were Democrats, however, with Republicans apparently much more supportive of Trump serving out the final days of his term, which ends on January 20
Among Democrats, the reaction was more lopsided, with 87 per cent saying they were ‘strongly’ opposed while another 5 per cent saying they were ‘somewhat’ opposed.
Just 2 per cent was strongly supportive while another 3 per cent was ‘somewhat’ supportive.
Independent voters appeared to side with the Democrats as 71 per cent said they were strongly opposed while 9 per cent said they were somewhat opposed.
Meanwhile, a majority of Americans - 57 per cent - want President Donald Trump to be immediately removed from office.
Most of them were Democrats, however, with Republicans apparently much more supportive of Trump serving out the final days of his term, which ends on January 20.
The national public opinion survey was conducted on Thursday and Friday.
Nearly 70 per cent of Americans surveyed also said they disapprove of Trump's actions in the run-up to Wednesday's assault.
At a rally earlier in the day, Trump had exhorted thousands of his followers to march to the Capitol.
The chaos on Capitol Hill, in which a police officer and four others died, has been widely condemned by both Democrats and Republicans.
Trump exhorted thousands of supporters to march on the Capitol as Congress met to certify Biden's November 3 election victory. The resulting assault, viewed with shock around the world, left a police officer and four others dead in its wake, as rioters breached the Capitol and forced lawmakers into hiding for their own safety
Democrats in the House of Representatives plan to introduce misconduct charges on Monday that could lead to a second impeachment of Trump, two sources familiar with the matter said.
'If the President does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action,' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
The public's reaction is divided by political party, as it has been on almost every major issue in the Trump era.
While almost everyone condemned the violent confrontation, calls for Trump's ouster came mostly from Democrats.
Altogether, the majority of Americans who said they want Trump to leave office before his term ends includes about nine out of every ten Democrats polled but just two in ten Republicans.
Some 30 per cent said the president should be removed using provisions in the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution, which allows the vice president and Cabinet to remove the president if he is unable to discharge his official duties.
Another 14 per cent said Congress should impeach and remove Trump from office, and 13 per cent said Trump should simply resign.
Trump, who lost the November 3 election by about seven million votes, called on his supporters on Wednesday to march on Congress, telling them at a rally that 'you will never take back our country with weakness.'
A small minority of the American public - 12 per cent - said they supported the actions of those people who took part in the riot.
Seventy-nine percent of adults, including two-thirds of Republicans and Trump voters, described the participants as either 'criminals' or 'fools.'
Nine percent saw them as 'concerned citizens' and 5 per cent called them 'patriots.'
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States.
It gathered responses from 1,005 American adults, including 339 who said they voted for Trump.
Democrats on Monday said they will circulate an article of impeachment in the House of Representatives charging the president with 'incitement to insurrection.' Trump is seen above at the 'Save America March' rally moments before his supporters stormed the US Capitol building
The results have a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of 4 percentage points.
With only days left in his presidency, Trump - silenced by Twitter and shunned by a growing number of Republican officials - faces a renewed drive by Democrats to remove him from office after he incited his supporters to storm the US Capitol.
Democratic members of the House of Representatives will introduce formal articles of impeachment on Monday, Representative Ted Lieu said on Twitter.
The California Democrat, who helped draft the charges, said the articles had drawn 180 co-sponsors as of Saturday afternoon.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top congressional Democrat, has threatened to impeach Trump for a historic second time unless he resigned 'immediately,' a move the pugnacious president is unlikely to consider.
Pelosi has also asked members to draft legislation aimed at invoking the US Constitution's 25th Amendment, which allows the removal of a president unable to fulfill the duties of the office.
Trump 'has done something so serious - that there should be prosecution against him,' Pelosi told CBS' 60 Minutes according to an early excerpt of the interview.
The intensifying effort to oust Trump from the White House has drawn scattered support from Republicans, whose party has been splintered by the president's actions.
Democrats have pressed Vice President Mike Pence to consider the 25th Amendment, but a Pence adviser has said he opposes the idea.
The odds that Trump will actually be removed before January 20, when President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in, remain long.
Any impeachment in the House would trigger a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate, which is scheduled to be in recess until January 19 and has already acquitted Trump once before.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent a memo to his fellow Republican senators suggesting a trial would not begin until Trump was out of office, a source familiar with the document said.
Nancy Pelosi, House speaker, is pressing ahead with plans to file articles of impeachment on Monday if Trump does not resign
A conviction in the Senate requires a two-thirds vote.
Democrats will take control of the Senate later this month, after Georgia certifies two runoff elections won by Democratic challengers.
Twitter permanently cut off Trump's personal account and access to his nearly 90 million followers late on Friday, citing the risk of further incitement of violence, three days after Trump exhorted thousands of supporters to march on the Capitol as Congress met to certify Biden's November 3 election victory.
The resulting assault, viewed with shock around the world, left a police officer and four others dead in its wake, as rioters breached the Capitol and forced lawmakers into hiding for their own safety.
Pope Francis said on Saturday that anyone engaged in attacks on democracy must be condemned.
'I was astonished because they are people so disciplined in democracy,' the pontiff told Italy's Canale 5 news channel in his first public comments on the events.
A Florida man who was photographed smiling and waving as he carried Pelosi's lectern from the House chambers amid the chaos was arrested by federal law enforcement late Friday.
Authorities also arrested a man seen in widely shared photographs wearing a horned fur hat and carrying a spear inside the Capitol.
Dozens of others face federal and state charges.