Trump acquitted second time following historic Senate impeachment trial
FOX News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has the latest on 'FOX Report Weekend'
Nearly six in 10 Americans say that former President Trump should have been convicted in his Senate impeachment trial, according to a new national poll conducted after Saturday’s acquittal of the former president.
A similar percentage of people question in an ABC News/IPSOS Survey released Monday also say that the evidence against Trump was strong and more than three-quarters believe that the senators voted based on partisan politics rather than the facts presented during the trial.
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The former president was acquitted Saturday of one count of inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by right wing extremists and other Trump supporters aiming to disrupt congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the November election. Trump was impeached by the House on Jan. 13, with 10 Republicans joining all 222 Democrats in the chamber in voting to impeach, and 197 Republicans opposing impeachment.
In this image from video, senators vote during the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. (Senate Television via AP)
On Saturday, seven GOP senators joined all 50 Democrats in the Senate in voting to convict Trump. While there was bipartisan support to convict the former president, the tally was 10 votes shy of the 67 needed to convict Trump.
According to the poll, 58% of Americans said Trump should have been convicted. There was a wide partisan divide, with 88% of Democrats and 64% of independents but just 14% of Republicans saying that Trump should have been convicted.
Fifty-six percent of those questioned said the evidence against Trump was strong. And 77% said that they believed the senators voted on partisan politics, with less than a quarter saying the lawmakers voted based on the facts in the case.
The ABC News/IPSOS poll of 547 Americans has a sampling error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points. The survey was conducted Saturday evening and Sunday.
A Gallup national poll that was also released on Monday indicates that Americans’ desire for a third party is on the rise.
According to the poll 62% now support a third party, an all-time high in Gallup polling, with just a third of Americans saying the two major political parties are doing an adequate job representing the public.
ANTI-TRUMP REPUBLICANS DISCUSS FORMING THIRD PARTY
The poll – which was conducted Jan. 21-Feb. 2 indicates that 70% of independents favor the formation of a third party. And 63% of Republicans feel the same way, a surge from last September when just 40% of Republicans supported a third party.
More than 120 former Republican officials and GOP strategists who are Trump critics earlier this month held a Zoom call to discuss forming a break-away conservative party.
Forty-six percent of Democrats favored a third party, down from 52% in September.
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