Democrat John Yarmuth: Impeachment Will Not Get to ’60 Percent’ Support

John Yarmuth on 11/5/19 "Rising"
Screenshot
Sean Moran

House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-KY) said Wednesday he does not believe that Americans’ support for impeachment will “ever get to 60 percent.”

House Democrats hope to boost Americans’ languishing support for their impeachment inquiry by hosting new hearings at the House Judiciary Committee. Polling from Emerson College released last week found that more Americans oppose impeachment rather than support the inquiry into President Donald Trump.

As Democrats prepare for their hearings next week, many Democrats, including many members of House Democrat leadership, admitted that they think it will only move the bar by a few percentage points.

Rep. Yarmuth, the House Budget Committee chairman, said that there is a “real possibility” that the House Judiciary Committee hearings could boost Americans’ approval for impeachment by four or five points.

“I think the real possibility for a significant change is when Judiciary Committee actually debate the articles of impeachment and possibly the trial,” he claimed.

However, Yarmuth added, “I don’t think it’ll ever get to 60 percent.”

Other Democrats said many Americans have already decided how they feel about impeachment.

Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said, “I think people have made up their minds on this in a lot of ways. But I think, frankly, what should drive us is the evidence and the facts and our oath of office.”

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), another member of the House Judiciary Committee, said that they have to continue the investigation regardless of American approval of impeachment.

Jayapal said, “We are at the place where we have to protect the Constitution, and we have to protect our democracy and our elections, and we’re going to have to do that regardless of the conditions around us.”

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) said that Democrats “would love to see” Trump supporters’ support for impeachment grow, but, he added, “we don’t expect it to.”

 Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (D-PA) said that the impeachment inquiry hearings will layout details of the investigation that may be complicated to many Americans “unless you’re a historian or a political scientist, you might not know.”
However, as many of these Democrats admit it will remain difficult boosting Americans’ support for support, many swing district Democrats such as Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Max Rose (D-NY), Cindy Axne (D-IA), and Susie Lee (D-NV) have had trouble explaining why they backed impeachment.
Congressman Cicilline said that next week’s impeachment hearings “probably doesn’t have the same kind of appeal of the fact witnesses but it’s obviously a really important part of this impeachment inquiry.”

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.

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