New polling suggests that
the hopes of top Republicans who want President Donald Trump to
go away forever are in vain as vast majorities of the base still
support the outgoing president.
An
Axios-Ipsos poll reported Wednesday found that Republicans
across the nation are taking President Trump’s side in the
unfolding impeachment debate in Congress. A majority of Republicans
believe Trump was right to challenge his election loss, don’t blame
him for the violence that occurred during the riots in the Capitol
building on Jan. 6, and want him to be the 2024 Republican nominee
for president.
The poll found that the GOP is divided, with 56% of Republican
respondents identifying as “traditional” Republicans and 36%
identifying as “Trump Republicans.”
These factions have different opinions on the president,
obviously.
Among traditional Republicans, 24% believe that Trump is to
blame for promoting the unrest at the Capitol and should be
immediately removed from office.
Only 1% of Trump Republicans think this. An overwhelming 91% of
Trump Republicans support the president’s efforts to challenge the
election results, while only 46% of traditional Republicans say
they support the president’s election challenges.
Just 41% of traditional Republicans want Trump to be the 2024
GOP nominee; 94% of Trump Republicans want the president to run for
office again in four years.
Overall, only 17% of Republicans think the president should be
removed from office.
Axios
pointed out that the polling explains why there were only 10
House Republicans to vote to impeach the president a second time,
blaming him for inciting the violence in the Capitol. Most
congressional Republicans are responding to how a significant
portion of their base feels.
Offering some insight into why the Republican base opposes
impeaching Trump, Ben Shapiro wrote the following in
Politico’s Playbook newsletter:
Opposition to impeachment comes from a deep and
abiding conservative belief that members of the opposing
political tribe want their destruction, not simply to punish Trump
for his behavior. Republicans believe that Democrats and the
overwhelmingly liberal media see impeachment as an attempt to
cudgel them collectively by lumping them in with the Capitol
rioters thanks to their support for Trump.
“The monopoly Trump’s had on the Republican base for the last
four years is a little more frayed than any time in recent
history,” pollster Chris Jackson, senior vice president for Ipsos
Public Affairs, said. “A substantial chunk doesn’t necessarily
think their future goes with Donald Trump. The big question is, is
having a small-but-committed base going to be more valuable than a
large-but-less-committed base?”
