Trump Campaign Manager Tweets Poll Showing Republican Voters Backing Impeachment

President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, made a tweet this week including polling results from a deeply conservative Oklahoma district. While Parscale framed the poll in the tweet as numbers that illustrate how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision to draft articles of impeachment against Trump is harming support for a Democratic freshman congresswoman, a look at the poll actually appears to point to a surprising level for backing for impeachment.

Conducted by polling firm Fabrizio Lee, the survey of voters in Oklahoma’s fifth district, traditionally heavily Republican, indicates wavering support for first-term Democratic Rep. Kendra Horn. Parscale says this shows Democrats’ majority in the House of Representatives is at risk over the push for Trump’s impeachment.

A closer look at the poll numbers, however, paint a more nuanced picture. Of those surveyed, 45% -- in a deep red district -- say they support impeachment of Trump, while 52% do not. For Republicans, this should serve as a canary in the coal mine, as even deeply conservative voters appear to be backing impeachment at startlingly high rates. This crucial angle appears to be lost on Parscale, however, whose tweet remains up at the time of writing.

Latest polling, per FiveThirtyEight, shows nationwide support for impeachment slightly edging out opposition, 47.8 to 44 percent. That the numbers of those supporting impeachment in deep red districts like Oklaholma’s fifth should be concerning for Republicans.

Parscale’s misguided tweet is the latest example of apparent discord within the Trump camp, as it scrambles to assemble a defense against the impending articles of impeachment. In late September, a White House official accidentally emailed a memo outlining talking points Republicans should follow regarding the impeachment inquiry to House Democrats. A request to “recall” the memo was issued.

On several occasions President Trump has also made public statements that contradict statements made by the White House regarding impeachment. In a telephone interview on Fox & Friends last month, Trump appeared to confirm that he had deliberately withheld aid funds from Ukraine, a statement some Democrats said amounts to a confession to the President’s alleged misconduct in his dealings with the Eastern European nation.