CNN/ORC Poll: Majority say no to impeachment and lawsuit
Washington (CNN) - There’s not a lot of public appetite for a Republican push to sue President Barack Obama, or for calls by some conservatives to impeach him, according to a new national survey.
A CNN/ORC International poll released Friday morning also indicates that a small majority of Americans do not believe that Obama has gone too far in expanding the powers of the presidency.
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Earlier this month, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP's 2008 vice presidential nominee, called for Obama's impeachment, becoming the latest voice on the right to make the suggestion.
But according to the poll, only 35% want Obama impeached, with nearly two-thirds saying the President should not be removed from office.
There's an obvious partisan divide, with 57% of Republicans but only 35% of independents and 13% of Democrats backing a move to impeach Obama.
"Anti-impeachment sentiment is roughly where it was for past presidents - 67% opposed Bill Clinton's impeachment in September 1998, and 69% opposed impeaching George W. Bush when a few Democrats began talking about it in 2006," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
"One reason may be that Americans take impeachment very seriously. Only about one in five say that impeachment is a valid response if Congress is dissatisfied with a president's policies or the way he is handling his job. Nearly eight in 10 say impeachment should be reserved for high crimes and misdemeanors," Holland adds.
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The poll's release came one day after the House Rules Committee approved – along a party line vote – a resolution authorizing Speaker John Boehner's lawsuit against the President. The GOP controlled House is expected approve it next week.
Boehner and House Republicans plan to sue Obama over his health care law. They claim he violated the Constitution by circumventing Congress and changing the law's employer mandate on his own.
By a 57%-41% margin, Americans say House Republicans shouldn't file the suit. As with the question on impeachment, there's a wide partisan divide over the lawsuit.
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When it comes to expanding the power of the presidency, has Obama gone too far? Forty-five percent say yes, with three in 10 saying the President's actions have been about right, and 22% saying he hasn't gone far enough.
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The poll was conducted for CNN by ORC International from July 18-20, with 1,012 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.
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That's because most America still have their brains intact. That 33% are brain damaged by the GOP and Tea folks.
Quit crying GOP you lost....The next election is 2016 and if you win this time, try not to leave the country in a financial mess, (Nixon, Bush)
Nearly eight in 10 say impeachment should be reserved for high crimes and misdemeanors," Holland adds
-----------------------------------------------------Which makes it inexplicable how Cheney and Duhbya are still walking around free.
Hearings upon hearings about four dead Americans, but nothing for the thousands that died when they adn the coutntry were lied into war.
Trillions spent on a war that was kept off the books until the next President came into power.
Inexplicable.
Yes, He's in Violation of his Oath of Office! <----–
CNN is downplaying the figures, but one in three favoring impeachment is huge,malt nought they're not very clear on who their sample group was..
I have a better idea. Let's impeach congress for NOT doing their job.
If you dig into the details of the numbers, it's actually worse. Without the support of Northeaster based city dwellers, Obama's numbers are pretty bad
Sorry, second part should be "although they're not very clear who their sample group is". darn you, autocorrect.........
If he does not finish that border fence, I'm going to join the 35%
It appears we have lost our ability to meet on common ground. We both have far Left and Right nuts that seem to push their own agenda’s.
We have also lost our ability to tell the truth….. All the news media outlets are biased, and they conduct a “War on the American People” daily. We don’t need their opinions; we just need the facts……
The above poll presents one set of results, another poll states we should impeach….. Bottom line, I would just like the truth…..
IMPEACH Congress Instead!!!!
Stupid to even consider it.
This is laughable!!! Obama has a lot of catching up to do to catch up to 'impeachable' offenses done by the prior administration. If any President should have been impeached, it was GW Bush! Disclosing the identity of a CIA agent just because you were mad at her husband for proving you wrong! That was a direct act of treason. Where were the impeachment mongers then??? Lying to the entire nation during a state of the union address! Yellow cake? there was no yellow cake and he knew it. Obama pales in comparison!
"former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP's 2008 vice presidential nominee, called for Obama's impeachment,"
Well, that's good enough for me! She's RIGHT about so many other critical issues.
Impeach Congress.
President Obama- "we still have 2 out of 3 branches of the government and that ain't bad!"
He's stabilized the economy without any help from the house of representatives. The economy was in a tailspin
This is going to be a disturbing trend if the republicans want to impeach every democrat president – particularly when they've won a second term handily by public voting. Republicans are just looking like sore losers.
On most issues, Republicans are simply way out of the mainstream, as defined by what the majority of Americans wants done.
Another 4 branch of the government ready and willing to carry Obama's water...LMAO Do your job report the real news
Please, please, please Republicans, do not impeach Obama! Whatever you do, do NOT, repeat, do NOT impeach Obama! Do anything else. Sue him. Insult him, even to his face. Go on White House tours and spit in the china. But whatever you do, please, oh, PLEASE, do not impeach Obama! (Snicker.)
Any talk to impeachment or sue a president should have started with George Bush,Republicans are doing nothing but exposing their hypocritical nature and we the people perceive it as such. They have fallen from grace of God's sight because of their corrupt ways
The media does these type polls to make the news not report the news.
Over 1/3 of the population want this President Impeached. More people want Obama impeached then when Clinton was. And this is supposed to be a piece defending the president?
Honestly, 1/3 of all Americans in favor of such an extreme measure is quite a lot. Just sayin'...
So 35% of survey respondents are utterly clueless about what the word "impeachment" means in reference to the US Constitution then. I find it very telling that since Richard Nixon, it's only been far right wing Republicans who have sought to impeach Democratic Presidents. I see a pattern. And in case any Republican is reading this, just for the record, impeachment is not what you do when you disagree with the policies of a sitting president. That's called an election.