Trump predicts polls ‘backlash’ against Dems

An angry, energized President Donald Trump whipped supporters into a frenzy Thursday at a Minneapolis campaign rally where he predicted a 2020 election "backlash" against Democratic attempts to impeach him.

Democrats are investigating Trump for possible impeachment over his alleged bid to pressure Ukraine into digging up dirt on election rival Joe Biden, who currently sits near the top of the Democratic pack.

But to roaring cheers and boos from the full-capacity crowd in a basketball arena, Trump put two difficult weeks behind him.

In a speech lasting one hour and 40 minutes, he bathed in supporters' adulation, hitting all his favorite talking points with a trademark mix of jokes, insults and populist exaggeration.

He said Democrats are only trying to impeach him because they're "getting desperate."

"They want to erase your vote like it never existed, they want to erase your voice and they want to erase your future, but they will fail because in America, the people rule again."

And in 2020 this will "produce a backlash at the ballot box the likes of which they have never ever seen before."

Public support for impeachment is slowly growing, with a new poll from Fox News -- a channel favored by US conservatives -- showing 51 percent now back his removal from office.

With control of the lower house of Congress, Democrats are likely to impeach in the coming months, even if few believe the Republican-led Senate will actually convict Trump and force him from office.