President Donald Trump expressed his displeasure Thursday with a Fox News poll that found a majority of registered voters believe he should be impeached — a record high in the survey.
The poll came after House Democrats opened an impeachment inquiry into the president over his call to have his Ukrainian counterpart investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a top political rival.
"From the day I announced I was running for President, I have NEVER had a good @FoxNews Poll," Trump tweeted. "Whoever their Pollster is, they suck. But @FoxNews is also much different than it used to be in the good old days. With people like Andrew Napolitano, who wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice & I turned him down (he’s been terrible ever since), Shep Smith, @donnabrazile (who gave Crooked Hillary the debate questions & got fired from @CNN), & others, @FoxNews doesn’t deliver for US anymore. It is so different than it used to be."
"Oh well, I’m President!" he added.
Of those surveyed, 51 percent said they want Trump impeached and removed from office, while another 4 percent say they would like Trump impeached but not removed. On the flip side, 40 percent of voters said they oppose impeachment. Support for Trump's impeachment and removal jumped 9 points from July, increasing 11 points among Democrats, 5 points among Republicans and 3 points among independents. Fox News found increased support for Trump's impeachment among white evangelicals, white men without a college degree and rural white voters.
11 percent more voters said they believe that Trump is “getting what he deserves” rather than that the inquiry is being pushed by “people out to get him."
Fox News also found that 66 percent of registered voters said it was "generally inappropriate" for Trump to ask a foreign leader to probe a political opponent. Just 25 percent said this was generally OK.
Most surveyed said Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy — in which Trump asked Zelenskiy for a "favor" involving investigating a 2016 election conspiracy theory as well as Biden and his son Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas firm — was either impeachable (43 percent) or inappropriate but not impeachable (27 percent). Just 17 percent said it was appropriate.
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In addition, 11 percent more voters said they believe that Trump is “getting what he deserves” (48 percent) rather than that the inquiry is being pushed by “people out to get him” (37 percent).
Trump has insisted the call, which is at the center of the impeachment inquiry, was "perfect."
Andrew Clark, the Trump campaign's rapid response director, told NBC News, "It’s not hard to get 51 percent in favor of impeachment when nearly half of those polled were Democrats. The media should put this poll where it belongs – in the garbage."
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the president and his campaign's criticism of the poll.
The Fox News poll comes on the heels of other polling on impeachment. A Washington Post survey found that 58 percent of Americans say the House was correct to open an impeachment inquiry, with 49 percent supporting impeachment and removal. And an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey found that 43 percent support Trump's impeachment and removal from office, while 49 percent oppose his removal.
