I spoke with CNBC‘s John Harwood about the dynamics of public opinion on impeachment, and what the polling might mean for Trump as it relates to the GOP.
A CBS News poll found 23% of Republicans backing an impeachment probe. In a USA Today survey, 30% of Republicans called it “an abuse of power” for Trump to ask Ukraine to investigate Biden.
Even if they haven’t broken with their party’s president, those Republicans pose a particular danger to Trump, who once bragged that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York without losing support.
“The willingness to hear this out is a sign that you’re not a Fifth Avenue Republican,” says GOP strategist Liam Donovan.
Read the full piece here.
For the record, and as I told John for this piece, I am wildly skeptical that you will see many–if any–Republican defections in either chamber. As I have said, there is zero near-term political incentive to remove your party’s President. Combustible primary dynamics aside, there is simply no reason to believe that a vote to remove Trump will earn you more support from the President’s critics than it will lose you among his most ardent fans. At best, ugly numbers could liberate some Senate Rs to vote on the underlying merits, along the lines of their outgoing colleagues. But ultimately there’s a strong argument for allowing the voters themselves to render this judgement, especially heading into an election year, and–for better or worse–I fully expect this to be the approach of even the most furrowed brows in the GOP conference.