Trump Impeachment Hearings didn’t move the needle for Democrats
Bottom Line: With congress in recess having completed five days of public impeachment hearings over two weeks, we had a moment to pause and reflect on what’s changed during this historic process. The answer may very well be...not much. We now have eight accredited pollsters who polled public opinion of President Trump before the hearings and during/after. The initial results show that public opinion – is – essentially where it was prior to the marathon hearings. Here are the findings.
- Emerson: Unchanged
- Reuters: Trump+1
- Economist: Trump –1
- Marist: Trump –1
- Harris: Trump +1
- Politico: Trump +1
- Gallup: Trump +2
- Rasmussen: Trump +1
Across eight pollsters the average change is Trump + a half point. That’s certainly not what Democrats were hoping for at this stage. The net change only reflects a less convinced public. To that end the biggest changes within polling are reflected in surveys that polled on impeachment. Across all accredited pollsters asking as to if President Trump should be impeached, here’s what we see.
November 8th, Friday before public impeachment hearings began:
- 48% believed President Trump should be impeached
November 22nd, Friday following the two weeks of public impeachment hearings:
- 45% believed President Trump should be impeached
Most telling is where the drop came from – Independents. Support for impeachment among independents has dropped from 48% to 41%. That’s a big storyline to watch moving forward. To the extent there was change, it wasn’t positive for Democrats. What’s next? We’ll see starting December 3rd.