Over two-thirds of Republican voters believe that Joe Biden should be impeached if the GOP wins back the House in the midterm elections, according to a new poll.
The poll, conducted by University of Massachusetts Amherst, found that “68% of Republicans and Trump voters and 66% of conservatives all would like to see the President charged by Congress for treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors, the formal criteria for impeachment laid out in the Constitution.”
When asked if they believe that a Republican House will actually impeach Biden, 44 percent said that they believe the GOP will come through, while 53 percent said that they did not think so.
“The decision to impeach a president was once viewed as a last resort to reign in a president who pushed or broke through the boundaries of our laws, values and ethics,” says Tatishe Nteta, associate professor of political science at UMass Amherst and director of the poll. “Today, impeachment is no longer a final option, but one of many weapons to be used in an era of rampant partisan polarization to gain an upper hand on one’s partisan opponents. With a number of Republican members of Congress calling to impeach President Biden, the chorus will likely grow louder if and when the Republican Party takes control of the U.S. House in 2022.”
The pollsters also found that when asked to rate their level of excitement for the midterms on a scale of 0-100, Republicans rated themselves an average of 79, while Democrats scored themselves an average of 73. Independents rated themselves at 47.
“In the 2018 midterm, turnout was at its highest level since 1914 with close to 120 million Americans going to the polls,” Nteta said. “Our results suggest that the days of low voter turnout in midterm elections may be over with Americans on both sides of the partisan divide expressing excitement to vote in 2022 and expressing their belief that the results of the 2022 midterm will be important for the nation’s future.”
Jesse Rhodes, professor of political science at UMass Amherst and associate director of the poll, noted that their findings are particularly bad for Democrats.
“The economy tops Americans’ list of the issues that will be most important in making their decisions at the ballot box in the midterm elections, and with inflation at its highest level since the early 1980s this is very bad news for Democrats,” says Rhodes. “Democrats already face likely losses in Congress during the midterms, and if inflation doesn’t cool off soon those losses could be very serious.”
Nteta agreed with his assessment.
“Given skyrocketing inflation, the downward turn in the stock market, and continued problems with the supply chain, it is no surprise that concerns about the economy top our list of the most important issues in the 2022 midterm election,” Nteta says. “With six months until Election Day, President Biden and the Democratic Party will need to address and hopefully solve these issues or they could lose control of both the House and the Senate to a resurgent Republican Party.”
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