Trump impeachment: Half of Americans want president to be removed from office, poll finds

But US president’s approval ratings have not significantly fallen

Half of Americans support impeaching Donald Trump and removing him from office, a poll has found.

Although support for impeachment hit a new high in the CNN poll, the US president’s approval ratings for handling major issues have not significantly fallen.

Of the national sample of 1,003 people, 57 per cent disapproved of Mr Trump’s handling of the presidency and 41 per cent said they approved.

Fifty per cent of respondents said Mr Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 43 per cent said they do not feel that way, the highest proportion so far. Seven per cent had no opinion.

Almost half, 49 per cent, said Mr Trump used his office improperly in his dealings with Ukraine‘s president to gain political advantage against a potential 2020 opponent, while 43 per cent disagreed.

It comes as former US ambassador William Taylor was expected to testify on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

The retired career civil servant was tapped to run the US embassy in Ukraine after the administration abruptly ousted the ambassador and he was drawn into the Trump administration’s effort to leverage US military aid for Ukraine.

But then he apparently grew alarmed. “I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign,” he wrote in excerpts of text messages released by impeachment investigators in Congress.

Mr Taylor is scheduled to testify behind closed doors in the inquiry, which is attempting to determine if Mr Trump committed impeachable offences by pressing the president of Ukraine into pursuing information that could help his campaign while Mr Trump withheld military aid to the Eastern European country.

The CNN poll showed support for impeachment and removal was strongest among Democrats at 87 per cent and independents at 50 per cent.

Just 6 per cent of Republicans supported the impeachment and removal of the president.

Mr Trump has compared the impeachment process against him to “a lynching”.

The US president said if a Democrat becomes president and the GOP wins the House they can impeach the president “without due process or fairness or any legal rights.”

The president tweeted: “All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here – a lynching.”

Lynchings were historically mostly used by whites against black men in the South in the late 19th century.