Democrats have been salivating over the prospect of impeachment and some of the president’s allies plan to use it against them.
Democrats could win back the House in November, if they are able to flip 23 seats from red to blue. Republicans are facing at least 30 competitive fights, according to the Cook Political Report.
Eight of those seats are “likely or leaning” Democrat, and 22 more are seen as toss-ups.
But Trump’s poll numbers are rising, and some of his close allies want to make the midterm elections a referendum on whether Americans want to impeach the president, betting that they do not.
According to Rasmussen Reports, Trump’s approval rating is now 49 percent, up from 42 percent in January. This is one percent higher than President Obama’s during the same time in his presidency.
Trump has also won praise for his efforts to bring North Korea to the negotiating table over its nuclear arms program.
And in early February, more voters finally credited Trump for the state of the economy than Obama for the first time, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.
Recent polls show voters do not have a huge appetite for impeachment.
A recent PBS Newshour/NPR/Marist poll showed that 47 percent of voters would not support a candidate who is in favor of impeaching Trump, versus 42 who say they would.
Another recent poll by Quinnipiac said 55 percent of voters would not want to see Democrats begin the process to impeach Trump if they gain control of the House, versus 38 that do.
Given those numbers, allies of the president are embracing Democrats’ talk of impeachment, according to The Hill.
They include veterans of the 2016 campaign former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, former deputy campaign manager David Bossie, and former campaign manager and White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon.
Lewandowski and Bossie on Saturday traveled to Michigan with Trump, who appeared to test-drive the strategy.
“We have to keep the House because if we listen to Maxine Waters, she’s going around saying, ‘We will impeach him,’ ” he told the crowd.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has been a leading figure calling for Trump’s impeachment.
“Everywhere I go, people are talking about, ‘Why can’t y’all get rid of him? Why can’t you impeach him?’” she said recently on MSNBC. “They say all of these things and I’m not just talking about my district — whether I’m on the airplane, I’m walking down the street in New York, wherever I am — I’m hearing it.”
Andy Surabian, a former special assistant to the president and deputy White House strategist, told The Hill there is no bigger potential loss for Republican voters than the loss of Trump as president.
“The greatest driver in politics is the fear of a loss,” he said.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has tried to stem talk of impeachment, but polls show the idea is popular among the liberal base.
According to the PBS Newshour/NPR/Marist poll, 70 percent of Democratic voters said they would support a candidate who is a proponent of impeaching Trump.
And talk of impeachment will be difficult to stop, with several Democratic candidates using it as a platform, such as Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who is looking to oust Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
Richard Painter, a former Republican who served as an ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, announced Monday he is running for a Senate seat in Minnesota and is making impeachment a major platform. He last tweeted about impeachment to his more than 459,000 followers on Wednesday.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.