Is The Trump Impeachment Backfiring On Democrats? Republicans Boast Campaign Donation Boom

Democrats wary of Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision to move ahead on impeachment in October said it may prove to ultimately hurt Democrats and boost Republicans – and so far, several indications show that to be proving true.

Since House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment aimed at removing President Donald Trump from the White House a week ago, Republicans have seen a surge in campaign donations. With over 600,000 individual donations made to the Republican National Committee over the past week, Republicans have good reason to rejoice in light of Democrats’ impeachment moves.

Last week, the RNC and Trump’s reelection campaign boasted over $10 million in combined donations. Donations to Republicans saw a similar bump following Pelosi’s initial announcement of Democrats’ intention to begin impeachment hearings.

Mike Reed, RNC deputy chief of staff, told Axios that donations are booming because Americans want Congress to “focus on real issues” instead of removing Trump from the White House.

While Democrats have been less forthcoming about how campaign fundraising has been affected by the impeachment proceedings, it does appear that they may be benefiting as well, though not as much. Since impeachment hearings began over a month ago, Phil Arballo, the Democratic contesting Rep. Devin Nunes’ (R-Calif.) House seat has claimed over $500,000 in donations, most of them in small portions. Arballo is finding success in choosing to go after Nunes’ role in the impeachment process and his apparent connections to Lev Parnes, who has been indicted over his connection to the Ukraine scandal.

Some Democratic fundraising groups have also found success in tapping into distaste for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Regardless of the party, voters from both seem largely interested in focusing on issues not related to Trump’s impeachment. For Democrats and Democrat-leaning swing voters, health care reform has come to rank as a top priority. Republicans, on the other hand, appear by and large to be fed up with the impeachment process and believe it has become a distraction from other matters that Congress should be focusing on, such as immigration and trade.

Congressional Democrats knew it was a major political risk to move forward on the impeachment of Trump. While those fears may be getting borne out, many Democrats are likely hoping that regardless of how the process plays out for the president, it will be inescapably linked to his image come next November.