Report: Most Americans Disapprove of how the U.S. Senate Conducted President Trump’s Impeachment Trial

The February 2020 Daily Kos/Civiqs Poll asked 1,543 registered voters in the United States about President Trump’s job approval and impeachment, as well as foreign policy, immigration, presidential nominating caucuses, and more.

President Trump

Nearly two-thirds of Americans (60%) disapprove of how the U.S. Senate conducted President Trump’s impeachment trial, including 24% of Republicans. Previous surveys found that more Americans (49%) wanted the Senate to remove Donald Trump from office than not (48%). However, now that the Senate has acquitted President Trump, over half of Americans (55%) do not want the House of Representatives to continue to investigate Trump for other impeachable offenses.

President Trump’s job approval rating in February 2020 is 45%. This number is essentially unchanged from previous surveys. Over half (52%) of Americans currently disapprove of the way President Trump is handling his job as president. President Trump’s strongest base of support is among whites (55% approve), whites without a college degree (59% approve), and those aged 65 or older (51% approve).

Foreign Policy and Immigration

Nearly two-thirds of Americans (59%) feel that, over the past decade, the people responsible for making US foreign policy and national security decisions have not shared their beliefs and interests. This distrust of policymakers crosses party lines: half of Democrats (50%), 67% of Republicans, and 54% of Independents share this view.

On January 31, the Trump administration expanded its travel ban to include six new countries, including four in Africa. Americans narrowly oppose this policy, with 46% against it and 45% in support. The policy reveals a stark partisan divide: 84% of Democrats are against the travel ban, whereas 85% of Republicans support it. Whites tend to support the ban (54%), but African-Americans and Hispanic/Latino Americans are strongly opposed to it (83% and 61% oppose, respectively).

Presidential Nominating Caucuses

In the wake of controversies surrounding the 2020 Iowa Democratic Caucus, Americans overwhelmingly support eliminating the Caucus System for nominating presidential candidates, 58% to 20%. This view is shared across party lines: 68% of Democrats, 54% of Independents, and 51% of Republicans all support abolishing presidential nominating caucuses.

Who Was a Better President?

With Presidents’ Day in February, Civiqs asked Americans who they thought has been a better president: George W. Bush or Donald Trump? Among Republicans, 85% prefer Donald Trump, to only 13% for George W. Bush. However, among Democrats, the numbers are reversed: 83% of Democrats believe that George W. Bush was a better president; versus only 8% for Donald Trump.

Civiqs also asked about the two most recent Democratic presidents: Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Most Democrats believe that Barack Obama was a better president, 77% to 12% for Bill Clinton. Republicans give the edge to Clinton, 59% to 9% for Obama, with 31% unsure. Frequent Fox News viewers are even more decided that Clinton was superior to Obama, 67%-8%.

Civiqs surveyed 1,542 registered voters in the United States from February 11-14, 2020. The survey was conducted online, among selected members of the Civiqs research panel. Sampled individuals were emailed by Civiqs and responded using a personalized link to the survey at civiqs.com. The survey results are weighted by age, race, gender, education, party identification, and region to be representative of the population of registered voters in the United States. The general design effect due to weighting is 1.09. The survey has a margin of error of ±2.6% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect.