Impeachment the sequel

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House Democrats took the unprecedented step Monday of introducing a resolution to impeach President Trump for a second time, charging that he must be immediately removed from office for encouraging his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol in a “seditious” attack on democracy that left at least five people dead.

Reps. Ted Lieu of California, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and David Cicilline of Rhode Island, key Democrats on the powerful House Judiciary Committee, formally unveiled a single article of impeachment charging Trump with “incitement of insurrection” after Republicans blocked immediate consideration of a bill calling on Vice President Mike Pence to remove his boss from office via the 25th Amendment.

“We will hold this seditious president accountable imminently,” New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the No. 5 Democrat in the House, tweeted after the impeachment article was filed.

Four of those recent polls asked simply whether Trump should be removed immediately from office:

A PBS NewsHour/Marist poll of 875 US adults, taken January 7, found that 48 percent of respondents believed Trump should be removed from office before the end of his term on January 20.

YouGov fielded a survey of 1,448 registered voters on January 6 — it found 50 percent believed it would be “appropriate” for Trump to be immediately removed from office.

Axios/Ipsos found 51 percent of respondents said they want Trump immediately removed, in a poll of 536 US adults taken January 6 to 7.

An ABC News/Ipsos poll of 570 US adults, taken from January 8 to 9, found 56 percent of respondents believe Trump should be removed immediately; 43 percent said he should not be.

A Politico/Morning Consult survey of 1,986 registered voters, taken January 6 to 7, found respondents preferred the 25th Amendment be used, with 49 percent of registered voters supporting that route, and 44 percent behind impeachment proceedings.

Reuters/Ipsos, in a January 7 to 8 poll of 1,005 US adults, found 30 percent saying they believed Trump should be removed using the 25th Amendment and only 14 percent saying he should be impeached and removed by Congress

As was the case ahead of Trump’s first impeachment hearings, support — and opposition to — the president’s removal falls largely on partisan lines.

The PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, for example, found that 84 percent of Democrats backed Trump’s immediate removal, while 15 percent of Republicans were for it (83 percent of Republicans said Trump should not be removed). Independents were split in that poll: 45 percent were for removal, and 51 percent were against it.

Overall, there does seem to be slightly more Republican support for impeachment the second time around; f

So, the case may not be settled for some time, and even then, there will be the outstanding issue of whether a *former* president can be impeached.