Pew Poll Stacked with Democrats Backing Impeachment 

A new Pew Research poll that claims 54 percent of registered voters support the impeachment of President Donald Trump is stacked with Democrat respondents, according to a review of its methodology by Newsmax.

The survey by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew, which identifies itself as a “nonpartisan, non-advocacy fact tank,” was conducted from Oct. 1-Oct. 13 and asked some 3,487 U.S. adults whether they “approved or disapproved of the House of Representatives’ decision to conduct an impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump.”

Some 54 percent approved of the inquiry, while 44 percent disapproved, according to Pew. In addition, 47 percent expect Democrats in Congress will be “fair and reasonable in the handling the inquiry, while only 43 percent expect Republicans in Congress will.

But the methodology behind the poll appears to have stacked it in favor of achieving a pro-Democratic outcome. 

Buried in the survey results is the fact that of the 3,487 respondents, 1,942 are Democrats or are Democratic leaning while 1,453 are Republicans or Republican leaning. That means 56 percent of those polled were Democrats compared to 42 percent who identified as Republicans — a 14 percent margin favoring Democrats.

Frank Luntz, a veteran American political consultant and pollster, questioned the validity of the poll.

“Self-identified Democrats outnumber self-identified Republicans by about 6 percent nationally. The sample for this poll leans a bit too Democratic to accept these numbers as gospel,” Luntz told Newsmax. “When the questions are about impeachment, you have a responsibility to ensure an accurately balanced sample.”

Exit polls taken during the 2018 Congressional election found only a 4 percent spread between Democratic and Republican voters.

Asked for a comment, a Pew communications official pointed to the poll’s methodology section of the report which states, in part: “In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.”

Further, Pew told Newsmax, "The survey is intended to reflect the views of all Americans, and so groups are sized to reflect their actual share in the population. Among the general public, a larger share of adults identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party than identify with or lean toward the Republican Party."

The Pew poll was released one week after Fox News published a poll finding 51 percent of Americans agree Trump should be impeached and removed from office. 

Following the Fox poll, Trump tweeted: “From the day I announced I was running for President, I have NEVER had a good @FoxNews Poll. Whoever their Pollster is, they suck. But @FoxNews is also much different than it used to be in the good old days.’’

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Pew Poll: 54 Percent Support Trump Impeachment Inquiry