Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

The latest Fox News impeachment poll contains remarkably grim news for President Trump

A majority of respondents support his impeachment and removal from office.

Trump at the White House on Wednesday.
Trump at the White House on Wednesday.
Trump at the White House on Wednesday.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

A new Fox News poll about impeachment should send shivers down the spines of President Donald Trump and his supporters.

The poll, which surveyed 1,003 registered voters between October 6 and October 8, finds that a majority of voters (51 percent) support Trump’s impeachment and removal from office — a significant jump from the last time Fox News polled the question in July, when only 42 percent of respondents supported removing Trump.

The survey indicates Trump’s efforts to cajole the Ukrainian government into investigating the Bidens are a major problem for him, and his moves to spin the scandal into one about the Biden family are backfiring.

Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they are “extremely” troubled by “the situation surrounding President Trump’s dealings with the Ukrainian president” — twice as many (19 percent) who are extremely troubled by the allegations Trump has made “about Joe Biden and his son’s business dealings in Ukraine and China.” Forty-three percent said they think what Trump “said on the call with the president of Ukraine” is “an impeachable offense,” compared to 27 percent who found it “inappropriate, but not impeachable” and 17 percent who said it was “appropriate.”

The Fox News poll indicates that respondents actually think the impeachment inquiry into Trump is fairer than the one President Bill Clinton faced.

It’s worth pointing out that it’s still early. House Democrats launched their impeachment inquiry less than a month ago, and there’s still a lot we don’t know about how voters will react as it continues to unfold. But the latest Fox News poll — which, as my colleague Sean Collins has detailed, comes on the heels of a string of surveys indicating that support for Trump’s impeachment has risen rapidly — is perhaps the starkest illustration yet of the trouble the president faces.

Trump is upset that Fox News won’t rig polls for him

While Fox News’s programming for the most part skews in a markedly pro-Trump direction, its polls adhere to similar standards as other reputable pollsters. Trump, however, seems to be bothered that the network isn’t rigging polls for him.

Trump, who started lambasting Fox News in August after they published a poll that showed him polling below 40 percent in head-to-head matchups against four frontrunners for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, wasted no time on Thursday portraying the new polling as the latest evidence that Fox News is “much different than it used to be in the good old days.”

“Whoever their Pollster is, they suck,” Trump tweeted.

Trump followed that up with another tweet touting a network he’s been promoting as a more loyal alternative to Fox News — the One America News Network (OANN).

With reliable pollsters showing support for an impeachment inquiry rising, Trump has resorted to touting fake numbers both on Twitter and during press conferences.


The news moves fast. To stay updated, follow Aaron Rupar on Twitter, and read more of Vox’s policy and politics coverage.

More in Politics

Podcasts
The Supreme Court abortion pills case, explainedThe Supreme Court abortion pills case, explained
Podcast
Podcasts

How Louisiana brought mifepristone back to SCOTUS.

By Peter Balonon-Rosen and Sean Rameswaram
Politics
Trump’s China policy is nearly the exact opposite of what everyone expectedTrump’s China policy is nearly the exact opposite of what everyone expected
Politics

As Trump heads to China, attention and resources are being shifted from Asia to yet another war in the Middle East.

By Joshua Keating
Politics
Are far-right politics just the new normal?Are far-right politics just the new normal?
Politics

Liberals are preparing for a longer war with right-wing populists than they once expected.

By Zack Beauchamp
The Logoff
Flavored vapes doomed Trump’s FDA headFlavored vapes doomed Trump’s FDA head
The Logoff

Why Marty Makary is out at the FDA, briefly explained.

By Cameron Peters
Politics
Virginia Democrats’ irresponsible new plan to save their gerrymanderVirginia Democrats’ irresponsible new plan to save their gerrymander
Politics

Democrats just handed the Supreme Court’s Republicans a loaded weapon.

By Ian Millhiser
The Logoff
Can Trump lower gas prices?Can Trump lower gas prices?
The Logoff

What suspending the gas tax would mean for you, briefly explained.

By Cameron Peters