In CNN Special Report “Presidents Under Fire: The History of Impeachment” Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, host Fareed Zakaria examines the evolving role of presidential impeachment in US government.

CNN  — 

Around 40% of 2018 voters said they want President Donald Trump impeached, according to CNN’s national exit polls.

It’ll become a key question as Democrats seize control of the House and all the investigative and procedural powers that come with that. But while CNN projects that Democrats will take the House, Republicans will hold the Senate. Any effort to impeach Trump would run smack into a trial in a friendly Senate.

Democrats’ current leader, Nancy Pelosi, has said she is not interested in moving to impeach Trump, but that won’t stop a lot of them from agitating for it; 77% of self-identified Democrats supported impeachment in the exit polls, compared with just 5% of Republicans and 33% of independents.

Support in the exit polls for impeaching Trump is nowhere near a majority, but as CNN has pointed out, 40% is much higher support for impeachment than most presidents face, including President Bill Clinton, who was actually impeached.

Support for impeachment is the highest in California, where 54% of 2018 voters back it, followed by New York with 52% support. The lowest is in North Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia, where around a quarter of voters said they would support impeachment.