So, is the Democrats’ impeachment push popular with their base? Probably. This is something that they’ve de facto campaigned on for nearly three years. The impeachment of Donald Trump because he won the 2016 election was not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when.’ But this is mostly an issue that appears to get the professional elite in the Democratic Party excited. There are other issues for the 2020 cycle. In Pennsylvania, a must-win state for both sides, Democrats in the western part of the state are not happy with the Democrats’ 2020 agenda. They’re not thrilled their party is anti-fracking and pushing an agenda that will gut their health insurance. For Medicare for All to work, all private plans have to go, which includes those for union workers. David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report noted this recently, adding there is a chasm where Democrats can fall if they come off as too insane. These folks are also not happy with the prospect of Lie-a-Watha Liz winning the nomination either:
Spent yesterday w/ a group of mostly union, anti-Trump Ds in western PA. Massive concerns about how a Warren nomination (esp. pledge to ban fracking on day one) would play out in the region.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 10, 2019
Don't underestimate how many voters in SWPA, etc. there are still left for Ds to lose.
2016 Clinton votes in the city of Philadelphia: 584,025
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 10, 2019
2016 Clinton votes in western PA *outside* the city of Pittsburgh: 631,120
Yes, there's still a lot of room for Dems to fall.
The problem is that they already have jumped off the cliff into the left-wing abyss. They’re for gutting private health insurance, they want a wealth tax, forgive student loan debt, enact the Green New Deal, hate cops, want to make abortion permissible up until the moment of birth, and give illegal aliens health care benefits—while promoting an open borders agenda. This isn’t just conservatives saying the Democrats have gone off the deep-end, former Obama officials have as well. David Axelrod, a former top adviser to Obama, lamented about the appalling approval numbers at the core of the 2020 Democratic agenda, noting that it’s important to listen to voters and what they want. That’s funny—Democrats hate voters and think their small, elite brain trust is what should be entrusted to make and enforce all of their authoritarian and ruinously expensive policy positions. On the flip side, Trump has to ensure that he can be competitive in the collar counties around Philadelphia, specifically Buck County, where he split with Hillary 48-48, but that result was enough for him to clinch the state, as he ran up the score in the ‘T’ counties between Philly and Pittsburgh.
He needs to do that again, and defecting Trump Democrats who are not thrilled with their party and see him as the lesser of two evils doesn’t hurt either. Katie also noted that in Michigan, impeachment isn’t a popular sticking point with blue-collar workers.
Yet, Wasserman also noted that the independent voter who thought Trump was going to drain the swamp, but didn't and got cozy with Mitch McConnell might be a seam that the Democrats could exploit. The problem is that with impeachment theater engulfing the Hill, will the Left temper their tantrum for a second and find a way to speak to voters that isn't insane.
My working theory...there were two types of indies who voted for Trump in 2016:
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 4, 2019
1) voters who liked idea of an unfiltered (entertaining?) prez who drove politicians/media crazy
2) voters who saw DC as 100% broken and wanted to try something totally different to get stuff done
The first group of indies has pretty much got the president “as seen on TV” in 2016. No letdown there.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 4, 2019
But the second group is where Dems’ opportunity lies. He hasn’t “drained the swamp” or proven adept at “art of the deal” on infrastructure, immigration, etc. Dysfunction rules.
Moral of the story: Dems aren’t likely to win many more converts by attacking Trump’s behavior/style.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 4, 2019
But they can probably win converts by arguing he fell right in line with the “swampy” Rs (esp. McConnell) to take away healthcare/cut taxes for rich & has made DC even worse.
Editor's Note: Sorry folks, misread one of the tweets as one of the reasons being impeachment for PA Democrats. Not the case ... post has been updated as a result.
