Former President Donald Trump has been acquitted for a second time by the Senate, but a majority of Americans say the outcome of the impeachment trial should have been different.
A new ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Monday found that 58% of respondents say the chamber should have convicted Trump on the charge of “incitement of insurrection.”
Meanwhile, 61% of respondents said they believed the charge against the former president was serious enough to warrant an impeachment.
Fifty-six percent of respondents said they believed the evidence was strong, while 37% said it was weak.
And 77% of respondents said they believe that senators voted based on partisan conviction rather than the facts laid out in the trial.
The Senate voted to acquit Trump on Saturday as senators fell short of the 67-vote threshold needed for conviction.
Fifty-seven senators voted in favor of conviction, while 43 voted to convict, as IJR reported.
Seven Republicans including Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) defected to vote in favor of conviction.
In a statement after the vote, Trump called the impeachment “another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country.”
He added, “In the months ahead, I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people. There has never been anything like it!”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) slammed the Republicans who voted to acquit Trump for their “refusal to hold Trump accountable for igniting a violent insurrection to cling to power.”
She argued that they “abandon the Constitution, the Country and the American people with this vote.”
The ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted from Feb. 13 through Feb. 14 and surveyed 547 adults.