Despite the unrelenting bad press and worse news for President Donald Trump from the allegations of Michael Cohen to the sentencing of Paul Manafort, a new SSRS poll has found a sharp drop in support for his impeachment including among Democrats. Overall support for impeachment dropped from 43 percent in December to 36 percent today. This would help explain why Nancy Pelosi is saying that Trump has committed impeachable offenses but impeachment is not part of the Democratic agenda. While I do not see a current basis for impeachment on the public evidence, I disagree with the position of the Democratic leadership. Putting aside the bait-and-switch from the midterm elections, members should feel compelled to seek impeachment if they believe impeachable offenses have been committed regardless of what they think the other house or other members might do in fulfillment of their own constitutional oaths. Notably, while Pelosi does not think the Senate will overturn Trump’s veto over the wall emergency declaration, she still wants to do so in the House.
The change is most remarkable among Democratic voters who previously favored impeachment by 80 percent but now only support it by 68 percent. That 12 percent drop is astonishing given the importance of the impeachment issue to the midterm elections. The drop is even more pronounced among Democratic college graduates who favored impeachment by 50 percent in December and now only support it by 35 percent.
With the Mueller report expected soon, the polling could reinforce the position for Trump, particularly if Mueller finds no collusion.