Despite Nancy Pelosi’s previous efforts to hold back on impeachment, the Speaker of the House announced an official inquiry against President Donald Trump last week. Why the change of heart? It all goes back to whistleblower allegations claiming Trump urged Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. The White House then released both an abridged transcript of the phone call and the full whistleblower report, which was sent to the House and Senate intelligence committees and then released to the public. Many believe this to be an abuse of presidential power.

Since then, the media has been in a constant frenzy of new details and theories. As it turns out, not so shockingly, the country is divided on the issue. CNN recently reported that 55% of Americans are in favor of the inquiry, while 45% still consider it unnecessary. To find out if Northwestern students felt the same, we polled 35 students in Norris University Center on Tuesday, Oct. 1 to see their thoughts on the current impeachment proceedings.

Graphic by Maia Brown / North by Northwestern

As it turns out, Northwestern students feel a little different than the American public does, with an overwhelming majority believing impeachment proceedings should continue. Despite the desire for further investigation, however, students are pretty pessimistic about the outcome. When asked if they believed the proceedings would result in any consequences for Trump, 51% of students said no while 29% remained unsure. Among the discouraged was Weinberg third-year Laura Caride. She said her own desires may differ from reality when it comes to possible consequences of Trump’s actions.

“I hope they would,” Caride said. “But I’m not super optimistic about anything.”

For others, it seems obvious that Trump’s actions should and will have repercussions. Weinberg second-year Myles Friedman felt strongly that serious ramifications would soon be in order. But Friedman’s friend, Weinberg second-year Landry Eagye, was not so sure.

“Really, you’re confident?” Eagye questioned. “I’m not confident.”

In addition, many students were hesitant to jump to conclusions, saying they were in need of more information. That was the case with Weinberg second-year Grace Beste, who wasn’t afraid to state her uncertainty.

“I don’t know,” Beste said. “I genuinely don’t know."

For more information about the impeachment proceedings, check out our most recent Too Afraid to Ask.