"It's All Going To Help Him": Normal Democrats See Little Upside To Impeaching Trump, Worry It Will Backfire
Democrat voters surveyed by Reuters fear that impeaching President Trump over the Biden-Ukraine scandal will backfire, giving him a boost into the 2020 US election. In short, Congressional Democrats looking to impeach have major credibility issues after the Mueller report failed to show that Trump 'colluded' with Russia, and a transcript of his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky failed to show Trump strongarming him into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his coke addict son.
Among the public, interviews with more than 60 voters across four of the most important counties in the 2020 election showed Republicans largely confident the impeachment process will backfire and Trump will win re-election. Democrats, on the other hand, are worried they may be right.
Marc Devlin, a 48-year-old consultant from Northampton County, Pennsylvania, said he expects the inquiry to "incense" supporters of the president. "This is my fear, that it will actually add some flame to his fire with his base," he said. "I just fear 'party over country.'"
A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken on Monday and Tuesday showed 37% of respondents favored impeaching the president versus 45% who were opposed. That 37% figure was down from 41% three weeks earlier and down from 44% in May, after the release of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election. -Reuters
"After this he has a much better chance of winning another election, as scary as that sounds," said 39-year-old Richard Sibilla of Pinellas County, Florida, who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. "It's not even worth following because it's all going to help him."
Reuters is monitoring voters in four key parts of the country that could determine the outcome of next year's November election; Pinellas County, Florida; Maricopa County, Arizona; Northampton County, Pennsylvania; and Racine County, Wisconsin - areas which will be among the most targeted by presidential candidates next year.
Republicans, as expected, are firmly in Trump's camp.
"I don't think he did anything wrong," said 78-year-old barber shop owner Joe D'Ambrosio of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, who applauds Trump's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
"I have not had one Republican crack or say they're turning or going the other way. They're laughing it off. I think it's going to help him," said Lee Snover, chair of the Northampton County Republican Committee, who said she felt the impeachment inquiry was simply the latest Democrat attempt to take out Trump.
That sentiment was shared at a meeting of College Republicans United at Arizona State University on Wednesday.
"They have this idea that everyone is siding with them, that Trump is an impeachable president, when really it's only a minority," Rose Mulet, 19, said of the Democratic leadership in Congress. "It's not a reflection of the general public." -Reuters
That said, Reuters was able to find at least one Republican who Trump managed to piss off enough to not only not vote for him again - but to endorse impeachment.
"It should have been done a long time ago," said 52-year-old Chris Harman of Maricopa County, who said he voted for Trump in 2016. "I'm not voting for Trump. I tried it, it was a grand experiment, but I'm not going to try it again."