40 per cent of American voters want to impeach President Donald Trump

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Two-fifths of American voters want to impeach President Donald Trump, a poll has claimed.

The Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling found a full 40 per cent in favour of ousting the new president just two weeks into his first term. Forty-eight per cent did not favour impeachment and 12 per cent were unsure.

Pollsters also found that most Americans—52 per cent—wanted former President Barack Obama back in the White House.

More than 600,000 people have also signed up to a petition by campaign group Impeach Trump Now on the basis that he has not taken a far enough step away from his real estate empire whilst in government.

Mr Trump, despite winning the electoral college, lost the popular vote by close to three million votes and already has the lowest popularity ratings in contemporary American history.

The low numbers appeared to come down to opposition to his policies.

Only a quarter of Americans, or 26 per cent, were in favour of his 'Muslim ban', the executive order which barred nearly all travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries for at least 90 days.

The findings came after a Texas congressman joined calls for Donald Trump to be impeached for allegedly “exceeding his constitutional authority” with a temporary ban on refugees and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. He is one of a number of Democrats calling for Congress to investigate whether Mr Trump “intentionally exceeded his constitutional authority” to implement the temporary ban, which has sparked global protests.

Many demonstrators have called for Mr Trump to be impeached, but the prospect looks almost impossible with his Republican Party in control of both the House of Representatives and Senate.

Both houses would have to vote on the move, with the US Constitution requiring a simple majority in the House to impeach a President for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanours”.