Majority of Americans in favour of convicting Donald Trump: CBS News poll

A majority of Americans support convicting former President Donald Trump on an impeachment charge over his role in the Capitol riot on January 6, according to the CBS-YouGov poll released on Tuesday (local time).

The survey found 56 percent favor the former president's conviction, the same percentage who said they supported it in an ABC News-Ipsos poll released on Sunday, as reported by The Hill.

Pollsters surveyed 2,508 American adults from February 5 to 8. The survey has a 2.3-point margin of error.

"The same percentage of respondents in the CBS poll also believed the president encouraged the violence by pro-Trump rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. This included 88 percent of Democrats, 21 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of independents," it reported further.

The former President's second impeachment, which is a historic first, charged him with inciting an insurrection against the United States and if convicted, he would be permanently barred to run for public office. To secure the necessary two-thirds majority to convict Trump, at least 17 Republicans in the upper chamber would need to back it, an outcome considered unlikely.

The poll results indicate the GOP (another name for the Republican Party -- Grand Old Party) base continues to back the former president and would take umbrage at GOP senators voting for conviction, with 71 per cent saying they would view a vote for impeachment or conviction as an act of disloyalty, The Hill reported further citing the poll.

Among Republican voters, as many as 47 per cent of them believe that loyalty to Trump is very important and 27 per cent of voters somewhat important while 15 per cent voters believe it is not too important and 12 per cent voters feel it is not at all important.

The Hill reported that the poll also surveyed Republicans' and Democrats' respective views of one another and found that 57 per cent of Republicans consider Democrats as "enemies" compared to 43 percent who consider them "political opposition." By contrast, 59 per cent of Democrats consider Republicans "political opposition" compared to 41 per cent who consider them "enemies."

Trump's impeachment trial began in the upper chamber on Tuesday.

A majority of US senators on Tuesday said the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump is constitutional, despite calls from some Republicans to dismiss proceedings, reported CNN.

A simple majority was needed to determine the constitutional validity of the trial. The question was passed 56-44.

Six GOP senators voted with Democrats, establishing that the impeachment trial is constitutional. One of them, Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, was the only GOP senator to change his vote on the constitutionality of Trump's impeachment.

Trump is facing his second impeachment trial at the Senate for his role in inciting the deadly insurrection at the Capitol last month. The former President is reportedly unhappy with his defense attorney Bruce Castor's opening argument on the Senate floor this afternoon, according to two people familiar with his reaction.