NEW YORK, Jan 09 (APP): A new poll has shown that a majority of Americans want the immediate removal of incumbent President Donald Trump after the deadly attack against the US Capitol by Trump supporters.
The poll, undertaken by Reuters and Ipsos, sheds light on the political mood of the country, with 57 per cent Americans supporting the immediate removal of Trump from office. Most supporting the removal are Democrats. Republicans are more supportive of Trump completing his term, which ends on January 20, after which Joe Biden will assume the country’s presidency.
Trump, who lost the 2020 US presidential election to Democrat President-elect Biden 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.”
About one-tenth of those participating in the poll said they supported the the rioters and regarded them as “concerned citizens”.
A very small minority, five percent, called the rioters “patriots.”
However, the vast majority, seventy-nine percent, which included both Republicans and Trump voters, described the January 6 rioters as either “criminals” or “fools.”
Seven out of 10 of the participants who had voted for Trump on November 3 were opposed to Trump’s actions in the run-up to Wednesday’s assault on Capitol Hill.
The national survey was conducted on Thursday and Friday, and showed that 7 out of 10 who voted for Trump in the November elections were against the protesters who broke into the Capitol as officials were meeting to certify the victory of Democrat Joe Biden.
In the aftermath of the attack, five people died, including a police officer. Leaders from across the world condemned the act, marking a moment of unison for both Democrats and Republicans.
On Monday, Democrats in the US House of Representatives will introduce misconduct charges, which could lead to another impeachment of Trump, according to media reports.
“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.
Party allegiances were clearly visible in the poll, with nine out of every ten Democrats calling for Trump’s immediate removal, while just two in ten Republicans demanding the same.
Thirty per cent claimed that the president should be removed using the provisions part of the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution, which enables the country’s vice president and the cabinet to remove a president if deemed incapable of discharging duties.
