Voters in key battleground districts, where Republicans will fight to maintain their slim House majority in 2024, are deeply skeptical of the GOP’s effort to impeach President Joe Biden, a new poll finds.
The data suggests Republicans may shoot themselves in the foot by proceeding with an impeachment inquiry — one rooted in baseless allegations of corruption — which House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said is a “natural step forward” in the lower chamber.
The Democrat-aligned Congressional Integrity Project commissioned a poll from Public Policy Polling asking voters in the 18 Republican-held districts won by Biden in 2020 about the legitimacy of the GOP’s impeachment plans. And the returns ought to concern McCarthy and Co.
About 56% of people polled in these districts said an impeachment inquiry would be “a partisan political stunt,” compared with 41% who said it’d be “a serious effort to investigate important problems.”
And 56% said the inquiry would be about damaging Biden, compared with 41% who said it’d be about “finding the truth.” What’s more, 55% said an inquiry would be more about helping former President Donald Trump, compared with 41% who said it’d be about truth-finding.
All in all, there’s plenty here for the House speaker and his raucous caucus to chew on as they get back in the swing of things following their recess. Indeed, a faction of House Republicans are thirsty for a Biden impeachment probe. Trump has essentially demanded it of them, perhaps as a distraction from his own raft of criminal and civil court cases.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has insisted she’ll vote against funding the government unless the House votes on an impeachment inquiry first. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said McCarthy’s job could be in jeopardy if he stands in the way of impeachment. And some House Republicans, such as Jim Comer of Kentucky, keep marching the party toward impeachment — despite routinely being called out for lacking any evidence of wrongdoing, as my colleague Steve Benen noted.
Meanwhile, several House Republicans in some of the battleground districts polled by PPP have been trying to put the brakes on the impeachment push, NBC News reports. The data helps explain one reason why.
There is, however, at least one Democrat who’s essentially goading Republicans to “F around and find out” what happens in response to an impeachment push. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., on Wednesday dared Republicans to just get on with it.
“Go ahead. Do it, I dare you,” Fetterman told a group of reporters. “If you can find the votes, go ahead, because you’re going to lose. It’s a loser.”
The new PPP polling suggests he’s right. Granted, Fetterman put it his own way, saying impeaching Biden was a “fringe” issue on the right.
“Sometimes you just gotta call their bull—-” he said. “If they’re going to threaten, then let’s see it.”
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.