Protesters demonstrate as the House debates the articles of impeachment against President Trump on Wednesday.

Protesters demonstrate as the House debates the articles of impeachment against President Trump on Wednesday. Matt Rourke / AP

Poll: Majority of Feds Support Impeachment, Half Say Rhetoric Has Hurt Their Safety

One in three feds are concerned about impeachment's impact on morale, survey finds.

A majority of federal employees support impeaching President Trump, according to a new survey released hours before the House votes to take that step for just the third time in U.S. history. 

Just 43% of federal workers oppose impeaching Trump, compared to 52% who support it, according to the survey conducted by the Government Business Council, the research arm of Government Executive. Top-ranking civil servants at the GS-13 level and above are more likely to support impeachment, with 57% in favor compared to 46% of those at the GS-12 ranking or below.  

Not all feds who oppose the president support impeaching him: Just 37% of employees approve of Trump, compared to 55% who disapprove. One-in-five Republican federal workers gave Trump negative marks. 

About nine in 10 Democratic feds support impeaching Trump, compared to about half of independents and 19% of Republicans. 

Half of respondents said the rhetoric surrounding the impeachment process, specifically on whistleblowers and the “deep state,” has had a negative impact on their perception of their own safety. Two-thirds of Democratic feds have felt concerned for their safety during the impeachment process, compared to slightly more than one-third of Republicans. One-in-three feds said they are now less likely to report wrongdoing to the appropriate authorities due to attacks by Trump and congressional Republicans on the whistleblower whose filing kicked off the impeachment proceedings. Another 16% said they are now more likely to blow the whistle. 

Trump told Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was “going to go through some things,” according to a transcript summary released by the White House of a call between the two leaders. He later accused those who supplied information to the whistleblower of being spies, saying we “used to handle it a little differently than we do now.” Several witnesses who testified at the impeachment hearings said the lack of support from leadership has led to declining morale at the State Department and elsewhere. House Democrats’ official impeachment report cited Trump for sidelining and threatening career employees. 

One-third of federal employees also said the impeachment process has hurt morale in their workplaces, compared to 8% who said it has boosted morale. Feds who oppose impeachment were more likely to say the process has damaged morale. Nearly two-thirds of feds said the process had worsened the public perception of the civil service, with the rest saying it has had no impact. Four in five Democratic respondents said it has created a worse perception of the civil service. 

Among Democratic federal employees, about half are at least moderately satisfied with the field of candidates running for president. About one-quarter are not satisfied. Nearly half have not yet decided which candidate they are supporting, far surpassing those who have not made a decision among the general public. Former Vice President Joe Biden received  support from 15% of the Democratic respondents; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg received 12%; and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mass., received 8%. 

The survey was sent to a random sample of Government Executive Media Group subscribers from Dec. 4 through Dec. 15. It has a margin of error plus or minus 4%. See the full survey results here.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.