New poll shows impeachment is helping President Trump ahead of 2020 election — not hurting him

The Democratic push to impeach President Donald Trump has increased his public support, a new poll has found.

The Gallup survey, released Monday, found that a majority of Americans — 51 percent to 46 percent — do not want the Senate to convict Trump and remove him from office.

Support or opposition for Trump's possible conviction predictably falls down partisan lines with more Democrats opposing conviction than Republicans supporting it.

However, support for conviction is higher than it was during Bill Clinton's impeachment, Gallup noted. Several Gallup polls conducted in early 1999 found that an average of just 33 percent of Americans supported Clinton's removal from office.

Still, Gallup found that the implications of the Trump impeachment saga are clear: it is "increasing" his public support.

From Gallup:

As was the case for Clinton, the impeachment of Trump has not had a noticeably negative effect on his popular support. In fact, for both presidents, impeachment had the opposite effect of increasing their public approval. Clinton registered a personal best 73% approval rating immediately after being impeached.

Meanwhile, the Gallup survey found that Trump's job approval rating is holding steady at 44 percent, up from a low of 39 percent last fall when the impeachment saga began.