And just like that, as so many have been arguing for months, official impeachment inquiries can move the poll numbers significantly, as they did during Watergate, with two polls this week already showing movement toward impeachment support. It will be interesting to see how polls change again with the release of the whistleblower complaint itsef.
YouGov asked 2,805 people: “If President Donald Trump suspended military aid to Ukraine in order to incentivize the country’s officials to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, and his son, would you support or oppose impeachment?” 56% of respondents said they’d support impeachment, with 44% saying they’d do so “strongly”.
Business Insider asked 1,096 people: “Impeachment is the first step in the process of removing a president from office. Do you think the House of Representatives should impeach President Trump?” 45% of respondents said they supported impeachment, with 29% saying they do so “strongly.”
While it seems that the House still intends to be away on recess for the next two weeks, Adam Schiff, who says the roadmap is pretty clear, has indicated that the Intelligence Committee intends to keep working during that time, including bringing in witnesses, although it’s not clear if that means public testimony.
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Representative Hakeem Jeffries was just on MSNBC saying that in fact the Intelligence Committee will be conducting hearings over the recess.
Since that committee has taken the lead on impeachment because of the more urgent issues raised by the whistleblower, it makes sense that as long as they are in town engaging in public accountability processes, the rest of the membership can go home and shore up impeachment support among their constituents in person.