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As House Republicans look set to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, our new survey finds that voters are slightly more likely than not to support formal proceedings — though backing has weakened among GOP voters and independents.
Our Nov. 30-Dec. 2 survey clocks the electorate’s support for and opposition to launching impeachment proceedings to remove Biden from office at 44% and 40%, respectively. The 4 percentage-point gap between those two figures is down from a 9-point margin in favor of the move in September.
Notably, the share of Republicans who support launching proceedings has also declined from 76% to 70% since September, as has backing among independents, who are now more likely to oppose than support doing so, 43% to 37%. Roughly a quarter Democrats support the House’s beginning of proceedings, up slightly from three months ago.
Among the heavily Republican-leaning sample of voters who now support an official inquiry, the survey suggests House GOP leaders’ accusations that Biden is guilty of wrongdoing unworthy of his office is resonating more deeply than earlier this year.
Since September, supporters of impeachment proceedings have become 6 points more likely to say that Biden “committed an impeachable offense” (from 52% to 58%), while the share who say he should face such an inquiry because he “is unfit to serve” has dropped 7 points (from 43% to 36%). Republicans and independents who support impeachment proceedings tend to say the president committed wrongdoing, while Democratic backers are more divided on the question.
Among the overall electorate, voters are nearly equally divided on what they perceive to be the underlying motive for the probe, with 43% saying evidence of wrongdoing and 41% saying motivation to damage Biden’s political career. Roughly 2 in 3 Democrats blame politics, while 72% of Republicans say there is wrongdoing.
The bottom line
Our latest survey documents continued dissatisfaction with Biden among key constituencies for the Democratic Party, such as young people and voters of color. However, declining support among GOP voters for beginning impeachment proceedings since then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) launched the probe earlier this year shows that GOP leaders have some work to do to excite their own base.
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