Not doing themselves any favors
It turns out—and go figure—that all this muttering about impeachment that Republicans are doing among themselves is
not helping them with the general electorate. In fact, it's
very, very bad:
[A] new poll shows precisely why: It's because it's killing the GOP among swing voters.
The McClatchy-Marist College poll shows political moderates oppose the impeachment of Obama 79 percent to 15 percent. That's a stunning margin. And not only that, if the House GOP did initiate impeachment proceedings, moderates say it would turn them off so much that they would be pulled toward the Democrats. By 49-27, moderates say impeachment would make them more likely to vote Democratic than Republican in 2014.
John Boehner's lawsuit stunt isn't doing the party any favors either:
Americans say 58 percent to 34 percent that the GOP should not sue Obama, and moderates agree 67-22. Moderates also say by a 50-25 margin that the lawsuit makes them more likely to back Democrats in 2014.
These are brutal numbers. Whether they translate into increased turnout for Democrats is, as always, the big question. It probably depends mostly on whether Republican leadership can convince their members to clam up about both issues from now until November. And you can see why Republicans have started to get so very bristly when
Democrats talk about either.