San Antonio Current: The Deepening Impeachment Inquiry Is Turning Voters Away From Trump, Rep. Doggett Says

Widening support for the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump shows his diminished ability to use the probe as a political weapon, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett said Friday.

Doggett, D-San Antonio/Austin, said Trump's willingness to lash out at members of his own party for not coming to his defense shows his desperation. The congressman began advocating for impeachment in the spring, long before the majority of the House expressed a willingness.

"It was only a few months ago that people were saying, 'Well, Trump wants to be impeached, because this will excite his base and help him out politically,'" Doggett said. "You only need to look at Trump's behavior to know he desperately doesn't want to be impeached. His vicious attacks on Mitt Romney, and before that Justin Amash — anyone who's in the Republican Party and expresses any resistance — shows how much he doesn't want that to happen."

Support for the inquiry reached a new high in a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. Pollsters found that 55% of respondents approved of the inquiry, while 43% opposed. Last week, 51% approved and 45% opposed.

Doggett said Trump's betrayal of the United States' Kurdish allies by withdrawing troops from Syria is giving independent voters more reason turn away from the president. That, in turn, could weaken his support among vulnerable Senate Republicans.

For the Senate to ratify an impeachment vote by the House requires a two-thirds majority vote by the GOP-controlled body.

"Probably the biggest question is the extent to which voters who identify themselves as independent begin to change their opinion on this president," Doggett said. "Because, then, there are some Republican Senators and some Republican House members — particularly with regard to the change of independents in the suburbs — that begin to wonder 'What effect will this have on me?' And, at that point, they may decide they can't defend this wrongdoing any more."