Poll: Voters Sour on Swing District Democrats Who Back Impeachment

Voters’ opinions of swing district Democrats soured as they learned that their representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump, according to a poll released Monday.

An American Action Network (AAN) survey, conducted by NMB Research, found that a majority of likely voters across New York’s 22nd Congressional District, South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, and New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District grew a more unfavorable opinion of their representative after they learned about their Democrat representatives’ vote to impeach the president.

Reps. Anthony Brindisi (D-NY), Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM), and Joe Cunningham (D-SC) represent these battleground 2020 congressional seats. They all represent districts that President Trump won during the 2016 presidential election and that Democrats flipped during the 2018 midterm elections. Republicans hope to retake roughly 20 congressional seats so that they regain the House majority.

These three Democrats voted for both articles of impeachment against President Trump, charging that the president abused the office of the presidency and obstructed Congress.

The AAN survey found that a majority of likely voters across these three districts oppose impeachment by margins even wider than the margins by which they elected President Trump in 2016.

Further, the poll revealed that likely voters across these districts dislike their members of Congress after they find out that their representative voted for impeachment.

Fifty-three percent of Rep. Brindisi’s constituents’ impression of him become less favorable after they learn he voted for impeachment. In contrast, only 34 percent have a more favorable opinion of the congressman after his vote for impeachment. Forty-seven percent of Rep. Cunningham’s constituency has a more negative impression of him after he backed impeachment, compared to 38 percent who have a more favorable view of the South Carolina Democrat. Fifty-two percent of New Mexico’s second congressional district voters have a less favorable view of Rep. Torres Small after learning she voted for impeachment, while only 36 percent of her constituents viewed her in a more positive light after she supported impeachment.

A majority of voters across these districts also agreed that Democrats should let the voters decide who should be the president during the 2020 election rather than through impeachment. Likely voters in these districts said Democrats should focus on passing important legislation, not impeachment, and voters said that impeachment is a “political charade.”

The NMB Research poll was conducted between December 18 and 19 on behalf of AAN via a telephone survey of 400 likely voters in the congressional districts. The margin of error for each congressional district is 4.9 percentage points.