By narrow margin, public wants Senate trial to result in Trump's removal from office % who think the Senate impeachment trial should result in % who say during his time in office, or while running for president, Trump has done things that are How confident are you that will be fair and reasonable during the impeachment trial? (%)
As the Senate impeachment trial gets underway, slightly more Americans say that Donald Trump should be removed from office than say he should stay in office, with these views starkly divided along partisan lines.
Roughly half of U.S. adults (51%) say the outcome of the Senate trial should be Trump’s removal from office, while 46% say the result should lead to Trump remaining in office. An overwhelming share of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (86%) say the trial should result in Trump remaining in office, while roughly the same share of Democrats and Democratic leaners (85%) think Trump should be removed.
While the public’s preferences for the outcome of the Senate trial are closely divided, 63% of Americans say Trump has definitely (38%) or probably (25%) done things that are illegal, either during his time in office or while he was running for president. A larger majority (70%) say he has definitely (45%) or probably (26%) done unethical things, according to the new survey, conducted Jan. 6-19 among 12,638 U.S. adults on Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel.
As was the case in public views of the House’s impeachment inquiry in the fall, the public does not express much confidence in either party to be “fair and reasonable” during the Senate trial. About half of Americans (48%) are at least somewhat confident that Senate Democrats will be fair and reasonable, while slightly fewer (43%) say the same about the Senate GOP. Most partisans say they are confident senators of their party will behave fairly and reasonably, while also expecting that those in the other party will not.
By narrow margin, public wants Senate  | trial to result in Trump's removal from  | office  | % who think the Senate impeachment trial should  | result in  | removed Donald Trump being office Donald Trump office  | removed Trump from being office  | staying Donald Trump in office  | Total  | 51  | 46  | % who say during his time in office, or while running  | for president, Trump has done things that are  | Probably  | Probably NOT  | NET Definitely  | Definitely NOT  | 63  | 25  | 22 13 36 NET  | Illegal  | 38  | Unethical 70  | 45  | 26  | 18 10 28  | How confident are you that  | will be fair and  | reasonable during the impeachment trial? (%)  | Not Somewhat  | Not  | NET at all  | Very NET  | too  | Reps in Senate  | 26  | 17 43  | 56  | 31  | 25  | Dems in Senate  | 51  | 27  | 24  | 30  | 18 48  | Note: No answer responses not shown  | Source: Survey of U.S adults conducted Jan 6-19, 2020  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 