Almost half of Americans approve of the impeachment proceedings against the head of the White House, Donald Trump. According to a survey conducted by HarrisX on September 26–27 at the request of The Hill, this initiative of Congressmen from the Democratic Party received support from 47% of US residents, while in June this figure was lower by 12%. The survey was attended by over a thousand respondents, of which only 11% were unable to determine the answer.
At the same time, 42% of the survey participants condemn the democrats' desire to impeach Trump. It is worth noting that the survey was conducted both among supporters of both political forces - the Republican and Democratic parties, and among those who have no party preferences. Among Democrats, the level of approval of the idea of removing the president from power has grown from 59% to 78% compared with June figures, while the share of Republicans supporting this initiative has so far increased from 5% to 18%. Of the non-partisan respondents, impeachment against Trump is approved by 41%.
Ukrainian trace
If the 2016 election campaign took place in the United States against the backdrop of a discussion about “Russian intervention,” Ukraine was at the center of the upcoming campaign in 2020. The former US vice president Joe Biden, who still had the status of the main potential rival of Donald Trump, oversaw Ukraine after the Euromaidan, and his son, Hunter Biden, then received a position on the board of directors of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings.
- Hunter biden
- AFP
- © Moses Robinson / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA
As The Hill subsequently reported, Biden Jr. could have been implicated in corruption crimes during his work in Ukraine. The republic’s prosecutor general’s office even prepared to launch an investigation against him, but this was prevented by Biden Sr., who secured the dismissal of the head of the Ukrainian department, Viktor Shokin. It should be noted that the American politician openly told reporters about how he achieved his resignation. True, Biden did not disclose the reasons for this position.
At the same time, the Democrats accuse Trump of putting pressure on Vladimir Zelensky to get information from Kiev that could cast a shadow on the Biden’s reputation.
On September 25, the White House published a transcript of Trump's telephone conversation with Zelensky. The US president raised the topic of the investigation against Hunter Biden in conversation, while the Ukrainian leader in return promised that the new prosecutor general of Ukraine would study this situation.
The US Justice Department examined the published transcript, but found no signs of violation of the law in the conversation.
However, Democrat leader in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, regarded the publication as a good enough reason to start Trump’s impeachment process.
“The president must be held accountable. No one can be above the law, ”said Pelosi.
Congress has launched an investigation into the early removal of the 45th US president from power.
According to American standards, the House of Representatives has the right to formulate and bring charges of impeachment, in which the Democrats now have the majority of seats. But in order for impeachment to actually take place, this decision must be approved by two-thirds of the senators.
There were some accusations against Russia: as Pelosi said, speaking on the MSNBC television channel, Moscow could have had a hand in this Ukrainian story.
"For PR reasons"
Democrats began to prepare for the launch of the impeachment procedure even before the publication of the transcript of the negotiations between Trump and Zelensky. The letter, dated September 23 and signed by the heads of the three congressional committees, states that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should submit to Congress materials on the case of Trump's possible attempts to collect incriminating evidence against Joseph Biden. At the same time, congressmen clarify that they sent such requests earlier, but did not receive an answer.
However, the State Department this time did not provide the Democrats with the requested materials, as indicated in yet another appeal of the heads of committee of the House of Representatives to Pompeo.
Congressmen warned that they should receive the necessary data before October 4. The statement emphasizes that the documents are requested as part of the impeachment procedure, and if the State Department refuses to provide them, this will be regarded as evidence of obstruction of the investigation.
- Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump
- Reuters
- © Jonathan Ernst
We are talking about materials relating to reports of alleged pressure on the Ukrainian authorities by Donald Trump so that Kiev would launch an investigation against Joseph Biden’s son. In addition, Congressmen demanded that they provide a transcript of Trump’s conversation with the President of Ukraine, as well as any materials regarding Trump’s lawyer Rudolph Giuliani and US military assistance to Ukraine.
In addition, according to Axios, the intelligence committee of the congressional congress on October 4 intends to hear secretly the testimony of intelligence community inspector Michael Atkinson, who made an official assessment of the informant’s information about the US president’s call to the Ukrainian leader.
Also, over the coming weeks, Congress intends to receive testimonies from five employees of the State Department, including former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Jovanovic and US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Walker.
Note that on September 28, CNN, citing three sources familiar with the situation, announced the possible resignation of Kurt Walker.
According to experts, the possible impeachment, which is so supported by the Democrats, will only lead to the fact that the confidence of American citizens in the effectiveness of political institutions will be undermined. This point of view in an interview with RT was expressed by an expert of the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Konstantin Blokhin.
“The ongoing trials, investigations, and the initiation of impeachment will hit Washington’s image as a power characterized by political stability. At the same time, it is practically impossible to remove Trump from his post, since the Senate, the majority of which belongs to the Republicans, will block this decision. Democrats started this campaign only for public relations reasons, in order to constantly darken Trump’s image, ”Blokhin believes.
"The figure won back"
Although the number of Americans approving the launch of the impeachment procedure has grown, this has little effect on the political rating of Donald Trump, experts say. According to a survey conducted by Harris Poll in collaboration with Harvard CAPS from September 22 to 24 with the participation of two thousand respondents, Trump's approval rating is held at 46%
According to another survey conducted earlier by the Gallup Institute, Donald Trump's rating is 43%, which exceeds the rate of support for Barack Obama at the same time of his first presidential term.
- U.S. House of Representatives
- AFP
- © Zach Gibson / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA
The authors of the study also drew attention to the highest polarization of public opinion. While among republicans Trump is supported by 91% of respondents, among democrats only 5% are loyal to his figure. Similar indicators were recorded only a few times in recent US history - during the presidency of Obama, as well as George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
Meanwhile, Trump's potential rival, Joseph Biden, is losing popularity among party members. If before he single-handedly led in the eyes of most supporters of the Democratic Party, now the senator from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren has come to the fore, as evidenced by the results of social studies.
According to Eduard Lozansky, President of the American University of Moscow, the Democratic Party is likely to stop supporting Biden, who may be involved in a corruption scandal.
“Today, Biden is a recruited figure. Most likely, the leadership will pass to Senator Elizabeth Warren. And Trump’s rating is growing for a very simple reason - this is a republican response to the actions of the Democrats, ”Lozansky explained in an interview with RT.
As for the support that the idea of impeachment received from the population, this is a “situational effect,” Eduard Lozansky is sure. The expert recalled that the Republicans are preparing a retaliatory strike against the Democrats.
"Attorney General William Barr and the FBI have already launched an investigation that could show that Democrats illegally initiated a case against Trump in the case of" Russian intervention ", the results of these investigations should be published soon. With such a heat of struggle, it is possible that within a week opinions will change in the other direction, ”the expert summed up.