Trump is struggling to convince even his own base that they shouldn't hear new evidence in his impeachment trial
- President Donald Trump has spent the last several months waging a full-blown war on the impeachment process.
- But it doesn't look like he's managed to convince even his own base that the Senate trial now underway is a "hoax" and should be over as quickly as possible.
- A new CNN poll found that 48% of GOP voters are in favor of the Senate calling new witnesses to testify during the impeachment trial.
- Fewer than this - 44% - oppose hearing new witnesses, showing Trump's trouble bringing even his own supporters with him.
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President Donald Trump has spent the last several months waging a full-blown war on his impeachment.
But it doesn't look like he's managed to convince even his own base that the Senate trial now underway really is a "hoax" that should be over as quickly as possible.
A new CNN poll found that a large majority of Americans - 69% - think the Senate should call new witnesses to testify during the trial - a key issue which Democrats strongly favor and most Congressional Republicans reject.
Notably, Republican voters are divided on the issue with 48% in favor of calling new witnesses and 44% opposed to hearing new witnesses.
This is a win for Democrats, who are fighting for the Senate trial to include witnesses who weren't heard during the House impeachment process.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delayed transmitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate for a month, freezing the process while she and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell duked it out over the terms of the trial. Pelosi's central ask is that McConnell allows a vote on whether to call witnesses.
McConnell ultimately refused to guarantee that witnesses will be called, but some swing-state and moderate Republican senators have indicated they might side with Democrats on that point.
It remains to be seen whether Democrats can convince any of their GOP colleagues to defect, giving them the necessary 51 votes to alter the trial rules.
A slim majority - 51% - of Americans think the Senate should convict and remove the president on the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, according to the poll.
58% believe that Trump abused his office for personal political gain and 57% think he obstructed congressional lawmakers from investigating him.
CNN surveyed 1,156 adults by phone between January 16-19 and the poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.