A new Monmouth University Poll found that 41% of Americans want to impeach Donald Trump six months into his term. In contrast, only 24% of Americans supported impeaching Richard Nixon six months into his second term.
According to the Monmouth University Poll, “Currently, 41% of the public think that Trump should be impeached and compelled to leave the presidency, while 53% disagree. The Monmouth University Poll asked the same question used by the Gallup Poll during Nixon’s presidency. In July 1973 as the Watergate scandal started to unfold, just 24% of the public supported impeachment, and 62% were opposed. Support for Nixon’s impeachment was significantly lower six months into his second term as president than it is for the incumbent today. Interestingly, Nixon’s job rating at that point in his tenure – 39% approve and 49% disapprove – was about the same as Trump’s current rating.”
Trump is at Nixonian levels of unpopularity, but what took Nixon a term and six months to accomplish, Trump has done in half of a year. The easy answer is that Richard Nixon didn’t have to deal with the 24-hour news cycle. There was no cable news in Nixon’s day, and there was no Internet or social media to spread stories quickly. The news moves faster now than it did in 1973. Nixon only needed to worry about newspapers and the nightly network news.
People have more access to information but are also capable of being misinformed because the information spreading platforms of the Internet is open to almost everyone, including Donald Trump.
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These numbers are terrible for Trump, and there is a real sense that they are capable of getting worse.
Donald Trump hasn’t come to close to hitting bottom yet.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
