Majority Of Republicans Oppose Impeaching Donald Trump Even If It’s Proven He Colluded With Russia

A majority of Republicans believe Donald Trump should not be impeached under any circumstances, even if it is proven that he colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation has moved deep into Trump’s inner circle, leading to prison sentences for his national security adviser, his former lawyer, and the head of his 2016 campaign. But no public evidence or allegation so far has pointed to Trump directly working with Russia.

Even if it were proven that Trump worked with Vladimir Putin to meddle in the election and help defeat Hillary Clinton, a new poll found that most Republicans wouldn’t want to see him impeached. The survey from YouGov/The Economist asked respondents whether they would support articles of impeachment against Trump if it were proven he accepted Russia’s help in winning the 2016 election, which would be against the law. Most Republicans — 63 percent in total — said they would oppose impeachment under any scenario, including collusion with Russia.

A majority also said they would not support impeachment if the Russia investigation proves that Donald Trump obstructed justice, though the number was slightly smaller at 62 percent.

As a report from Newsweek noted, support for impeachment was higher among Democrats but there was still some opposition, even if Trump did collude with Russia.

“Seventy-six percent of Democrats would support impeaching Trump if Mueller found he accepted assistance from Russia, and 80 percent would support impeaching him if the special counsel found he obstructed justice,” the report noted. “For Americans overall, those figures were 46 percent supported impeachment of accepting assistance (31 percent opposed), while 47 percent supported impeachment for obstruction (31 percent opposed).”

Tlaib will offer impeachment articles against Trump by end of month https://t.co/UWiFaiqwea pic.twitter.com/jpYIdSvffK

— The Hill (@thehill) March 7, 2019

While the findings of the Russia investigation are still believed to be several weeks away, there are already other actions to investigate both Donald Trump and his adult children working on his campaign and in the White House. Nancy Pelosi this week said that there is no red line when it comes to investigating Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., both of whom have assumed top positions in the White House and Trump’s campaign, respectively. As Roll Call noted, Pelosi said that Trump’s adult children serve as advisers to the president and would be treated the same as advisers from any other administration.

But another report noted that there is some hesitancy among Congressional Democrats to push too hard on investigating Donald Trump’s children, as they fear it could backfire and turn personal very quickly.