Most Want Senate To Hold A Fair Trial With New Witnesses

Posted on the 22 December 2019 by Jobsanger

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has asked that the Senate trial of Donald Trump call new witnesses, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is backing him up -- delaying send the impeachment to the Senate until she knows what the rules of the Senate trial will be. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn't want that. He wants a short trial with no new witnesses.
McConnell may have to give on this, because the majority of the public agrees with Schumer. About 54% of voters want more witnesses called (including 66% of Democrats and 51% of Independents). Only 27% say no new witnesses should be called. Even a plurality of Republicans want to see more witnesses (43% to 39%).
Denying the right to call more witnesses is just going to make the Senate trial look rigged -- an unfair debacle designed to protect Trump by his party. Republican senators are going to have a tough time trying to defend that in the next election (which is now less than a year away).
The chart above is from the Morning Consult Poll -- done on December 19th and 20th of a national sample of 1,387 registered voters, with a 3 point margin of error.