Washington, September 28 (RHC)-- Voters are now evenly split on whether Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against U.S. President Donald Trump, a marked increase in support for impeachment, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.

The poll, which began after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her support for impeachment proceedings this week, shows 43 percent of voters think Congress should begin the process of impeachment, while an equal number of poll respondents say Congress shouldn’t begin impeachment proceedings.  Another 13 percent of voters are undecided.

Online interviews for the latest POLITICO/Morning Consult poll began Tuesday night, after Pelosi’s announcement, with nearly all interviews conducted prior to the public release of a complaint from a whistleblower concerned about Trump’s conduct in dealing with Ukraine.

Support for impeachment is up 7 points from the previous poll, which was conducted last Friday through Sunday.  In that survey, only 36 percent of voters supported starting impeachment proceedings, while 49 percent opposed them.  Among Democratic voters, support for impeachment proceedings has increased 13 points, from 66 percent in the previous poll, to 79 percent now.

But, according to Morning Consult vice president Tyler Sinclair, support has also ticked up among other voters.  “As more information has emerged about whistleblower allegations against President Trump, support for impeachment proceedings has grown to its highest point since the beginning of the summer,” Sinclair said.

“This week’s news cycle had a significant impact on Republicans and independents, giving credibility to Democrats' impeachment inquiry. Up from 5 percent last week, 10 percent of Republicans now support beginning impeachment proceedings, while support among independents has reached 39 percent.”

The new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll surveyed 1,640 registered voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.  Polls conducted in the midst of fast-moving news events may contain other sources of error, including the past observed phenomenon of voters who don’t respond when negative stories are swirling about political figures they support.

Some voters also may not be familiar with the latest developments in the Ukraine story.  Only 32 percent of voters surveyed in the new poll say they’ve heard “a lot” about news reports that Trump told senior administration officials to withhold military aid to Ukraine, days before he pressured the country’s president to investigate what he casts as corrupt behavior by former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who worked with a Ukrainian natural gas company.

Another 34 percent say they’ve heard “some” about the Ukraine story — but a combined 34 percent say they haven’t heard much or anything at all about it.  And the story itself changed while the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was in the field.  After interviews began Tuesday evening, the White House released a memorandum of a phone conversation between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, on Wednesday morning.

On Thursday morning, Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, testified on national TV before the House intelligence committee.  But nearly all the interviews for the new poll were conducted prior to Thursday’s hearing.