Former President Trump’s campaign pollster John McLaughlin said that the effort to impeach Trump is “backfiring.”
“What they’re doing on impeachment, people see it is unfair, unconstitutional, going against the president,” McLaughlin said during an interview with Newsmax. He added, “It’s having no impact on his base, in fact, it’s just solidifying them and making them angrier or more upset.”
McLaughlin’s comments came after 45 Republican senators voted against holding Trump’s impeachment trial, creating a tough setback for Democrats in the Senate pushing for the trial. In order to formally convict a President, 67 senators must vote for impeachment, meaning 17 Republicans would have to change their stance on the impeachment trial.
With these numbers, it is highly unlikely that an impeachment trial against President Trump would result in a conviction, even with a Democrat-controlled senate.
McLaughlin told Newsmax that he has seen polls showing that 75% of voters in battleground states believe that the upcoming impeachment trial is a “waste of time.”
Former President Trump has not made any concrete announcements about his future, although he has agreed to work with House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to gain Republican control of the House in 2022.
