Poll: Voters Spurn Swing District Democrats that Back Impeachment

A survey released Friday found swing district freshman Democrats could lose reelection over their decision to back the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.

The conservative American Action Network (AAN) released a polled that surveyed Reps. Susie Lee (D-NV), Anthony Brindisi (D-NY), and Kendra Horn’s (D-OK) congressional districts and found a majority of voters across these districts were less likely to vote for their freshman swing district Democrat if they were to back impeachment.

The poll found a near majority of those who have watched, seen, or heard reporting of the impeachment inquiry against Trump gave them a more negative view of their representative.

Constituents in their respective districts said if their member were to back impeachment, it would make it less likely for them to vote to reelect their lawmaker.

Fifty-three percent of constituents in Rep. Lee’s district said Lee backing impeachment makes it less likely for them to back impeachment. Fifty-three percent of those in Rep. Brindisi’s district said impeachment would make it less likely for them to vote again for the freshman Democrat. Forty-eight percent of those in Rep. Horn’s district said impeachment would make it less likely for them to vote for the freshman congresswoman.

These freshman Democrats represent three of the 31 congressional districts that President Trump won during the 2016 presidential election, and House Democrats flipped during the 2018 midterm elections. Republicans hope to flip 19 of these congressional districts to retake the House majority.

One independent woman in Rep. Lee’s district said:

She wasn’t unaligned with the impeachment and then she talked with her liberals or whatever you want to call them, then she did. And on what lines, it’s so shaky. It’s a waste of taxpayers’ time and money. What have they done for three years other than try to get rid of Trump?

Rep. Lee has continued to insist Trump engaged in a “clear obstruction” and “abuse of power” during his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“The media will make you believe that [impeachment] is all we’re working on,” Lee said in late November. “But I want you to know that I sit on the Education and Labor Committee, and I sit on the Veterans Affairs Committee, and since this process has begun, in fact, I think I’ve gotten my greatest legislative wins.”

Despite the Democrat-controlled House’s inability to pass significant legislation, Rep. Lee said they have made progress helping Americans.

One Democrat man in Rep. Horn’s district said:

They certainly did not need (Horn) to vote to proceed with the so-called impeachment inquiry hearing but she picked a side. I think we got a lot of people in Washington who haven’t done their job in three years. That’s about it.

A majority of likely voters across these districts agree that the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry prevented Congress from addressing critical issues for the nation, such as reducing healthcare costs or improving infrastructure.

A majority of these likely voters also said that Democrats should let voters decide whether to let President Trump remain in office rather than impeaching him.

This AAN survey arises as another poll released by Brad Parscale, Trump’s campaign manager, found impeachment will likely imperil Rep. Horn’s chances of getting reelected due to her support for impeachment. Forty-nine percent of Oklahomans in her district want a new member of Congress, and 52 percent of Americans in her district oppose impeachment.

National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Tom Emmer (R-NC) said Saturday that the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry will “cost them their” House “majority” in the 2020 congressional elections.

Public Opinion Strategies conducted the poll for AAN by surveying 400 likely voters across New York’s 22nd congressional district, Oklahoma’s fifth congressional district, and Nevada’s third congressional district. The survey was conducted from December 1-2, and the margin of error is 4.9 percentage points.