You’ve heard it said a million times: the presidential election is not about one race, but 50 different races. And one of those races, at least, has been turned on its head despite a week of the most relentless negative media coverage of the president yet seen.
In the pivotal swing state of Wisconsin, Donald Trump leads the top four Democratic presidential contenders by 3-8 points. The significance is that the same poll released in October had Trump trailing all those candidates badly.
President Trump is running ahead of four leading 2020 Democratic presidential contenders in the key state of Wisconsin, according to a poll released Wednesday that also showed a dip in public support for impeaching and removing Mr. Trump from office.
Mr. Trump led former Vice President Joseph R. Biden by a 3-point, 47% to 44% margin, according to the Marquette University Law School poll.
The president led Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont by 3 points, 48% to 45%, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts by 5 points, 48% to 43%, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg by 8 points, 47% to 39%.
In a Marquette poll released in October, Mr. Trump had trailed Mr. Biden by 6 points, Mr. Sanders by 2 points, and Ms. Warren by 1 point. He had led Mr. Buttigieg by 2 points.
Support for impeachment has also dropped in the state.
In the poll released Wednesday, 53% of registered voters in Wisconsin said they do not think Mr. Trump should be impeached and removed from office, compared to 40% who said they think he should be.
In the poll released last month, before public impeachment hearings started, 51% had said they don’t think Mr. Trump should be impeached and removed from office, compared to 44% who said they think he should be.
Democrats should take a good long look at those numbers. Their impeachment gambit is failing and the American people aren’t buying it.
A majority of Americans say they’ve been paying close attention to the impeachment inquiry: 63% say so in a new NPR/PBS/Marist poll and 58% in an ABC/Ipsos poll.
But just because they’re tuning in doesn’t mean you can expect them to change their minds on whether President Donald Trump should be impeached. Most respondents to both polls say they’ve made up their minds on impeaching Trump, regardless of what is actually said at the hearings.Almost two-thirds say they can’t imagine any information or circumstances that would change their minds about impeachment during the hearings, according to the NPR/PBS/Marist poll. Meanwhile, 30% say they could imagine changing their minds.
Damage to Trump’s re-election chances seem to be minimal at this point. It’s still a toss-up. But if the Democrats continue to parade anti-Trump witnesses before the TV cameras and exaggerate the importance of damaging testimony, voters will likely tune out the hearings and eventually tune out the opposition.
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