Thread by @Politidope

Support for impeaching Trump at 45%, per daily tracking data from @Civiqs -- which is (again) higher than at any point for Nixon until right before he resigned.

This high level of support for impeachment is despite unusually high levels of people answering "Unsure".

Democrats: 10% claim not to know
Independents: 8% claim not to know

(It's also important to remember very few people have actually read the entire Mueller report.)

I sincerely believe that many Democrats and Independents are fence-sitting or opposing impeachment for now out of fear because they've misremembered the lessons from Clinton's impeachment.

Yes, Clinton's party flipped 5 House seats in the next election after this impeachment, but his party lost the next presidential election despite a truly BOOMING economy to a candidate who ran on a pledge to "restore honor and integrity" to the White House.

The allusions to Clinton's impeachment also miss the mark because Clinton's impeachment was, at its core, about an extramarital affair. At its core, the impeachment of Donald Trump is about him being compromised and acting on behalf of foreign nations at the expense of the U.S.

The arguments against impeaching Trump never stem from contentions that he's done nothing impeachable. We all know he has. They unfailingly are political arguments comparing a Trump impeachment with Clinton when the more appropriate corollary is the impeachment of Richard Nixon.

Allusions to the Clinton impeachment also miss the mark when they presume public sentiment will rush toward Trump and make him popular like Clinton was.

Clinton consistently was above 50% -- even 55% for much of his presidency. Trump has never been over 50% FOR A SINGLE DAY.

Strictly as a political matter, Democrats shying away from impeaching an imminently impeachable president is an own goal as well.

If Trump can go to rallies in 2020 and say it all really was a witch hunt and not even the RADICAL LEFT DEMOCRATS could impeach him, the Dem House has handed Trump's re-election campaign a priceless gift.

The evidence is as clear as day. Donald Trump welcomed a foreign government to help him win. He covered for them at debates despite knowing Wikileaks had more coming. He obstructed the counterintelligence investigation and offered pardons to associates for not testifying.

Now he's offering government employees pardons in exchange for literally stealing Americans' land.

Just like Donald Trump, our members of the House took an oath to defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and * domestic *. That is not subject to whether defending the Constitution is politically popular at a given moment.

On the Iraq War vote, many Democrats were mislead by misreading the political tea leaves and I fear many are repeating their mistake on the impeachment of Donald J. Trump.

If the House taking action only "matters" if the Senate passes it as well, our members of Congress might as well stay home in district. This is a weak and illogical argument.

While there's a chance Mitch McConnell -- who is on the ballot next November -- covers for Trump and holds a sham trial to try to exonerate Trump and spare Senate Republicans from having to vote in the Senate, the same cannot be said for House Republicans.

Every single House Republican will be in the congressional record answering whether Trump's behavior is acceptable. That vote will be made public and they will have to answer to constituents at home from that point until Election Day 2020.

House Republicans are already fleeing like mice ahead of 2020 like they did at this point in the 2017-2018 cycle. They will not be helped by covering for a criminal and HISTORICALLY UNPOPULAR president.

The factual, as well as, political case against Donald Trump is flimsy at best. It also overestimates the power of Trump's weak electoral coalition.

The weak political case against impeaching Donald Trump also is deflating to irregular Democratic voters who tend to need inspiration to actually turn out.

Democrats quivering in fear of having to hold a white man to account for crimes does not inspire hope -- to say the least.

2020 will be about turnout. If the Democratic base is depressed in any way, that's the best way to help Trump win.

Very few -- if not ZERO -- Dem-leaning people will vote Trump if Dems impeach, but many Dem-leaners may stay home if they don't feel inspired or feel like Dems helped let Trump off the hook and they're just "the lesser of two evils".

Democrats shying away from impeachment also dovetails with a popular progressive critique of the Party: that they often give up before a fight has even started. We need not add any more examples of this happening ahead of 2020.

McConnell not allowing the Senate to convict does not mean Dems would have "lost" the impeachment battle. Forfeiting before the game even begins is how Dems lose the impeachment battle.