Support for the impeachment inquiry into Trump is rising rapidly across the political spectrum

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence look on as U.S. President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building on February 5, 2019 in Washington, DC.

• Support for the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump is on the rise across the political spectrum, according to new polling by The Washington Post and ABC.
• Since July, support for the impeachment investigation has grown by 21 percentage points among Republicans, 25 percentage points among Democrats, and 20 percentage points among those who identify as independents.
• The survey found that 58% of Americans support the House Democrats' newly-opened impeachment investigation and 49% believe Trump should be removed from office.
• Americans' sentiment has shifted dramatically over the past few weeks following the revelation that Trump asked the Ukrainian president to initiate an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
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Support for the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump is on the rise across the political spectrum.

A whopping 58% of Americans support the House Democrats' impeachment investigation into Trump, while 49% of Americans believe he should be removed from office, according to new polling by the Washington Post and ABC.

Among those who support the impeachment inquiry, just 6% oppose removing the president from office.

Since July, support for the impeachment investigation has grown by 21 percentage points among Republicans, 25 percentage points among Democrats, and 20 percentage points among those who identify as independents, according to ABC/Washington Post polling.

Americans' sentiment has shifted dramatically over the last few weeks.

A Quinnipiac University poll published on September 25th found that just 37% of Americans supported impeaching and removing Trump from office. Five days later, that number jumped 10 percentage points to 47%. Similarly, Reuters/Ipsos polling found that support for impeachment rose eight percentage points in the last week of September.

Read more: Just a handful of Republican lawmakers have rebuked Trump's calls for Ukraine and China to interfere in the US election

News broke late last month that Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to do him "a favor" by initiating an investigation into allegations of corruption against former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Shortly before the president's July 25th phone call with Zelensky, the White House froze $391 million in key security aid to the country.

A large majority of Americans - 64% - believe Trump's request that the Ukrainian government initiate an investigation into the Bidens was inappropriate. But while 84% of Democrats and 63% of independents believe this, just one-third of Republicans said the same. Nearly 60% of GOP respondents said Trump's request was appropriate.

Trump has repeatedly insisted that his call with Zelensky was "perfect" and called criticism of his actions a "witch hunt." His 2020 reelection campaign is using the impeachment inquiry to raise funds.

Overall, just 35% of Americans - 29% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats - said Trump upholds "adequate standards for ethics in government."

The poll, conducted between October 1-6, surveyed 1,007 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.