Resistance to impeachment is shrinking
by digby
Mediaite caught an interesting little data point in the latest polling on impeachment:
A new Fox News poll shows that while support for impeachment has ticked down slightly, opposition to an impeachment inquiry has gone down to just 45 percent.
In June, that poll showed 50 percent of Americans favored beginning an impeachment inquiry, including 7 percent who said Trump should be impeached but not removed as president. In July, 47 percent said he should be impeached, including 5 percent who said Trump should be impeached and not removed.
But the theory of political risk in impeaching Trump relies on the notion that the public would strongly oppose such an action, and according to this same poll, that opposition is squarely in the minority.
In June, 48 percent said Trump should not be impeached at all, a number which fell to 45 percent in the new survey. And among independent voters, opposition to impeachment is at just 41 percent.
What this means is that if Democrats decide to do the right thing, they will probably not face the backlash they seem to believe they will. The public at large isn’t pressing for impeachment. But a vast majority of Democrats are for it and it appears that Independents will go along.
I suspect that there are plenty of people who are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what the Democrats do — and if they decide to go for it, they will support it. Of course, the Republicans will have a fit. Why would anyone assume otherwise? That’s the way things are in our politics no matter what the issue.
This one is about the integrity of our democracy. Republicans are working to protect a lawless president by any means necessary including enabling future interference by an adversarial power on the president’s behalf. They welcome the help. (And the foreign adversary (or adversaries) almost certainly expects to benefit as well…)
They must do the right thing. If they don’t, Trump could “win” with another dubious election result and there would be no going back. Relentless opposition, using all the tools at their disposal, is the only way to keep them off-balance and on the defensive to stymie their plans. Without free and fair elections, “beating him at the ballot box” will not be possible.
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