Fox News Poll: 54 Percent of Americans Say Trump Should Be Impeached

A Fox News poll released Sunday morning found a majority of Americans, 54 percent, said President Donald Trump should be impeached, a vote the House is likely to pass this coming week.

The latest Fox News poll conducted last week found a majority of U.S. adults of all political affiliations say Trump abused his power in office, with 50 percent of Americans saying he should be impeached and removed as president. An additional 4 percent say he should be impeached but not removed from office. Those surveyed rejected the claim touted by Trump and Republicans that U.S. presidents typically ask foreign governments for help in investigating political rivals, with only 22 percent of respondents saying that defense checks out. A similar majority, 52 percent, said the Trump administration has not cooperated enough with the House impeachment inquiry.

Update: Trump once again responded to the unfavorable Fox News poll on Twitter Sunday afternoon; "The @foxnewPolls, always inaccurate, are heavily weighted toward Dems. So ridiculous - same thing happened in 2016. They got it all wrong. Get a new pollster!"

The slight upward tick in those supporting impeachment comes as a result of a new high in independent voters, 45 percent, who favor impeachment, up from 38 percent in October.

About 16 percent more voters said Republican lawmakers just want to protect Trump politically instead of reviewing the accusations which led to the two articles of impeachment against him -- abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Just fewer than half of Americans surveyed, 48 percent, said they believe Trump obstructed Congress, while only 34 percent said they did not. And 45 percent of respondents said they believe Trump committed bribery. But more than half of Americans, 53 percent, said Trump abused the power of the Oval Office.

Trump has previously railed against the Fox News and several of the cable news network's less enthusiastically pro-Trump anchors and hosts. On Saturday night, Trump blasted Fox News for "interviewing sleazebag & totally discredited" former FBI Director James Comey, which aired Sunday morning.

"Don't know why @FoxNews wants to be more like them? They'll all die together as other outlets take their place. Only pro Trump Fox shows do well. Rest are nothing. How's Shep doing?" Trump tweeted Saturday, referencing former Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, who left the network in October.

Given the 3 percentage point margin of error, the share of Americans who want to see Trump impeached or removed from office has not changed since the beginning of the impeachment inquiry earlier this fall. Forty-one percent of those surveyed by Fox News said they do not want to see Trump impeached, which has not changed a single percentage point. While those saying they want to see Trump impeached, but not removed, also has not changed from 4 percent.

An overwhelming majority of Democrats, 85 percent, said they support removing or impeaching the president. While a nearly identical percentage of Republicans said the exact opposite.

In October, Trump lashed out against Fox News for a similar poll which showed a slight majority of Americans support his impeachment.