Another poll has reaffirmed what most people already believed: Donald Trump is among the most polarizing presidents in modern political history.
Public Policy Polling (PPP) released the results of a new survey Thursday that found that, less than two weeks into Trump’s presidency, 40 percent of Americans want him impeached.
Meanwhile, 48 percent of voters oppose the idea, leaving just 12 percent of Americans who don’t have an opinion or aren’t sure on the matter.
Trump’s approval rating is 47 percent, compared to 49 percent of voters who disapprove of the job he has done in his first few days in office, meaning most of the people who disapprove of Trump already believe he should be impeached.
The movement to impeach Trump, which is based off accusations of conflict of interest due to his business holdings, his refusal to release his tax returns and his executive order temporarily barring immigration from seven Muslim countries, began as soon as he was sworn into office on Jan. 20, with the “Impeach Donald Trump Now” campaign garnering more than 500,000 signatures, per Raw Story.
However, the chances of an impeachment, which would require a majority vote in the House of Representatives and a two-thirds vote in the Senate, are exceedingly unlikely while the Republican party controls Congress. And as the PPP survey shows, Trump still enjoys solid support within his party, with 95 percent of those who voted for him expressing approval of his job performance.
In November’s election, Trump captured an electoral college victory without winning the popular vote, garnering just 46.1 percent of ballots cast. Still, his unpopularity is rare for an incoming president.
“Usually a newly elected President is at the peak of their popularity and enjoying their honeymoon period after taking office right now,” Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, said in a statement.
Trump’s tenure, however, has been marred by multiple protests across the country against him and resistance against several of his executive orders and Cabinet nominees. Like PPP, Gallup’s initial poll on Trump’s approval rating showed two percent fewer people approved than disapproved of his performance. Overall, just 45 percent of Gallup respondents approved of Trump’s performance, the lowest rating to start a presidency in the poll’s history, which began with Harry Truman.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama, who left office with some of his best approval ratings from his time in office, continues to enjoy strong popularity in the immediate aftermath of his presidency — PPP found that 52 percent of voters wished Obama was still president, while 43 percent preferred Trump.
Obama, who has been on vacation since leaving office, issued a statement in the aftermath of Trump’s immigration ban, saying he “fundamentally disagreed” with the order.
Overall, the margin of error on the Public Policy Polling survey was 3.6 percentage points. While RealClearPolitics and The Hill both classify the polling company as a Democratic-leaning organization, an analysis of its polls by FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver found that the firm’s polls tended to slightly overestimate Republicans. Silver gave PPP a B+ grade for accuracy.