An eye-popping number of Republicans now want Trump impeached

On Wednesday, a new poll by Politico revealed that “impeachment is back on the menu.” With President Donald Trump’s approval hitting historic lows and scandals rocking his administration, a majority of voters – including a surprisingly high percentage of Republicans – want him impeached. And barring that, they want several of his officials on the chopping block.

“Half of Americans support impeaching Trump and more than two-thirds expect Democrats to try if they flip the House — even though they have doubts about whether doing so would materially weaken the president,” writes Politico. “In total, 54 percent of Americans — including 81 percent of voters who plan to support Democrats in the midterms and a quarter of Republican midterm voters — say Trump has committed impeachable offenses, the poll found. More than 41 percent of respondents said Trump had used the presidency to benefit himself or his family financially, and a third said Democrats should prioritize investigating how he’s enriched himself, while another third said they should focus on probing his immigration crackdown.”

Majorities on both sides of the aisle, however, think that an impeachment in the House would do little to check the president. What is striking, however, is the sizeable number of Republicans who want to see Trump impeached. Even if they think it will have little impact on him, that one of four midterm GOP voters approve has major implications for the November elections. While the poll found that Democratic voters are split on whether their candidates should talk about impeachment in their midterm campaigns, these numbers suggest that a surprising number of people across the political spectrum could back that message. While most voters agree that Trump’s impeachment might not deliver the change they hope, Democrats are eager to oust his Cabinet secretaries. Democratic midterm voters say they want to see the House impeach HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (65 percent), Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (63 percent), VP JD Vance (58 percent) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (49 percent).

It is notable that the polls were conducted between October 16-19, just before an explosion of bipartisan outrage erupted over Trump’s recent concessions to Russia and suggestions that his administration may have actively hindered the Ukrainian war effort. Fox News was already sounding impeachment alarm bells before the Russia scandals, and now that accusations that the administration may have acted illegally have leapt up – even among conservatives – experts have raised the possibility. What’s more, recent reports revealed that Pentagon insiders are ready to “spill their guts” in proceedings against Hegseth that have been pushed by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). As one “well-connected” source told the Telegraph, “There’s going to be a lot of people that are going to very quietly go to the chair of the armed [services] committee and are going to spill their guts, provide them with everything they can and leak everything they can. It’ll be horrendous. It’ll be consistent embarrassment."