MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin voters appear to be solidifying in their opinions about whether they think President Donald Trump should be impeached, the latest Marquette University Law School poll released Thursday showed.
Results in the latest poll were consistent with last month’s survey asking about support for impeachment. Only 40% of respondents in December said they believed Trump should be impeached and removed from office, the same as last month. The percentage who believed Trump did something wrong, 42%, was also unchanged from November.
“People are dug in,” pollster Charles Franklin said.
In October, before public impeachment hearings began, 44% favored impeachment and removal from office, while 51% were opposed.
The latest poll also showed consistent numbers with a higher percentage of Republicans unified in opposition to impeachment while a smaller percentage of Democrats support it. Independent voters continue to lean against impeachment, with 34% in favor and 47% against, the poll showed.
The poll of 800 registered voters was taken between Dec. 3 and Sunday, after Democratic-led public impeachment hearings ended and just before Democrats unveiled articles of impeachment. The prior poll was done just as the hearings began. The latest poll had a 4.2 percentage point margin of error.
Among Democratic candidates, former Vice President Joe Biden maintained his lead with 23% support, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont at 19%, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts at 16%, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 15%. The margin of error in the poll of Wisconsin voters when asking only about the Democratic candidates was 6.3 points.
Democratic voters are not locked in on who they would support. Nearly two out of three respondents, 65%, said they were open to changing their mind about who they would vote for, the poll showed.
“Either people have not settled on a candidate or they find a wide range of candidates potentially acceptable to them,” Franklin said.
Wisconsin is one of four swing states — Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida are the others — that could determine the outcome of the 2020 election because their electorates are so evenly divided. Trump carried Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state in 32 years.
Trump’s approval rating in the latest poll was 47%, with 50% having an unfavorable opinion, nearly unchanged from 47% in favor and 50% not in November.
