Donald Trump’s impeachment turns crucial corner

| 7:30 pm EDT June 9, 2019
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Each time I point out that Donald Trump’s impeachment (if not necessarily removal) is inevitable, I’m always asked how I can be so sure. The answer is always the same: the number of Americans who want impeachment keeps growing, and it’s been heading toward becoming a majority. Now, for the first time, it’s – arguably – surpassed that milestone.

Impeachment polling is influenced by how the question is phrased and which options are presented, so various major polling outlets have recently pegged the pro-impeachment number as being anywhere from 41% to 49%. It’s less important whether the low end or high end of that range is accurate; it’s more important that each of these polls is seeing the number climb from one month to the next.

This brings us to the new NPR / PBS / Marist poll, which says that 52% of Americans want impeachment right now, or want investigations into Trump’s crimes, or want punishment against Trump for his crimes. If you want to lump all of those categories loosely into the “pro-impeachment” category, then you could argue that – for the first time – we have a poll that says the majority of Americans are leaning in the direction of impeachment. That’s a big deal.

It’s been frequently and widely misreported that Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic House leaders don’t want impeachment – but that’s not at all what they’ve said. They’ve been clear that they don’t want to do impeachment unless and until they can do it in such a way that it can have a productive outcome. To that end, one of the keys is to reach the point where a majority of Americans want impeachment, as this would erase the fear that impeaching Trump might end up giving him majority support. So we’ve turned a corner with this new polling – so this week’s House obstruction hearings and contempt hearings will be crucial.