Poll: Most Democrats say they’d view military ouster and natural death of Trump positively

A majority of Democratic voters said they would react positively to four of five hypothetical scenarios in which President Donald Trump left office before completing his term, including his removal by military leaders and his death in his sleep, according to a new poll. 

The Center for Strategic Politics survey — conducted Sept. 3 and Sept. 8-10 among 683 Democratic voters nationwide — found that nearly six in 10 would feel positively if military leaders removed Trump from power to “safeguard the Constitution” and assumed control of the U.S. 

Forty-three percent said they would feel “very positive” about the military scenario, while 16% said they would feel “somewhat positive,” bringing the total positive response to 59%. Twenty-eight percent said they would feel negatively, and 13% said they would feel neither positively nor negatively. 

Democrats reacted even more favorably to two scenarios involving constitutional means of removing Trump. Eighty-four percent said they would feel positively if a majority of Trump’s Cabinet invoked the 25th Amendment and declared him unfit for office. Eighty-six percent responded positively to a hypothetical scenario in which Congress impeached, convicted, and removed Trump. 

The poll also asked respondents how they would feel if Trump died overnight in his sleep. Fifty-six percent said they would react positively and 28% said they would feel neutral.

The only scenario that produced more negative than positive reactions was Trump’s assassination at a rally. In that case, 31% said they would feel positively, compared with 43% who would feel negatively and 25% who said they would feel neutral.

The results were published less than two months before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, when voters will determine control of Congress.

Liberal Currents author Chance Phillips, who partnered with the center to develop the survey, wrote in a Sept. 21 article that the poll’s participants would be happy with “just about any way” Trump could leave office. 

“The one method that a sizable plurality of Democrats report would make them feel worse is assassination,” Phillips added. “Thankfully, on net Democrats are not pro political violence.”

He argued that the results reflected Democratic voters’ desire for the 2028 presidential frontrunner to be someone “who can most credibly promise the creation of a new, post-Trump political order.” 

The same poll found that 77% wanted a future Democratic administration to prosecute Trump administration officials over their immigration enforcement policies, 66% supported prosecutions related to the war in Iran, and 72% supported charges related to lethal strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats.

“The demand that unifies the Democratic Party’s base in 2026 is simple: oppose the Trump administration and impose consequences for the rampant lawlessness they have observed for the past two years,” Phillips wrote of the results.

The poll also asked Democratic voters whom they would support if the 2028 presidential primary took place today. Former Vice President Kamala Harris led the potential field with 25% naming her as their first choice, followed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom at 15%, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at 13%, Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia at 10%, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona at 9%, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York at 8%.