Over half of Americans favor impeachment: poll

Washington:A slim majority of Americans believe President Donald Trump should be impeached and removed from office for his controversial Ukraine actions, according to the first poll after the launch of public hearings in Congress.

Fifty-one percent of those asked said they think Trump should be tried and convicted in the US Senate, while another six percent favor impeachment but not removal, according to the ABC News-Ipsos poll released Monday.

That appeared to represent an increase from before the hearings in the House Intelligence Committee began Wednesday. An average of previous polls showed about 48 percent supported Trump´s removal, according to the website FiveThirtyEight.

The ABC-Ipsos poll suggested as well a drop in the number of people opposing impeachment, to 38 percent, compared to the FiveThirtyEight average of about 46 percent. But a quarter of all those polled did not think Trump did anything wrong.

The ABC-Ipsos poll also showed that 58 percent of Americans over 18 were following the impeachment hearings at least somewhat closely, while 42 were not following closely or at all.

The hearings last Wednesday and Friday saw veteran US diplomats support allegations that Trump pressured the Ukraine government to help him find political dirt on rival Democrats and former vice president Joe Biden, who could face Trump in next year´s presidential re-election.

Eight witnesses are expected to take the stand this week in the hearings, including the US ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, who allegedly transmitted Trump´s demands to the Ukraine government.