It’s pretty clear that Democrats are more motivated to vote. Much of that is the nature of opposition — it gets people more excited to be against something than to be for something.
That explains the Republican surge in 2010 against Obama, and midterm surges against just about every other president in the past several decades.
#TheResistance, as deranged and psychotic as it is, nonetheless gets people onto the streets, and into the voting booths.
It’s going to take a massive swing to Democrats to retake the House, but almost no one is saying that’s an impossibility. Retaking the Senate would be a much tougher road for Democrats, but the House is the more reachable goal and the one Democrats want the most.
That’s because the House can vote to impeach. Sure, a trial would be in the Senate, but what Democrats most want is to be able to say Trump was impeached. Maxine Waters and others have been demanding impeachment since before Trump was president.
Billionaire Tom Steyer is building a massive political organization devoted to impeachment.
Talk of impeachment also has saturated mainstream and left-leaning media.
Impeachment, however, could be a motivator for Republicans. Lacking any other apparent issue this year to get Republican and Trump voters off their rear ends and into the voting booth, maybe the threat of impeachment is the ticket.
The NY Times reports:
As Republican leaders scramble to stave off a Democratic wave or at least mitigate their party’s losses in November, a strategy is emerging on the right for how to energize conservatives and drive a wedge between the anti-Trump left and moderate voters: warn that Democrats will immediately move to impeach President Trump if they capture the House.What began last year as blaring political hyperbole on the right — the stuff of bold-lettered direct mail fund-raising pitches from little-known groups warning of a looming American “coup” — is now steadily drifting into the main currents of the 2018 message for Republicans.The appeals have become a surefire way for candidates to raise small contributions from grass-roots conservatives who are devoted to Mr. Trump, veteran Republican fund-raisers say. But party strategists also believe that floating the possibility of impeachment can also act as a sort of scared-straight motivational tool for turnout.
Perhaps the best evidence that the threat of impeachment will motivate Republican/Trump voters is that some senior Democrats are upset with the focus on impeachment, as we reported last November.
Something needs to light a fire under Republican/Trump voters or there will be a double whammy — Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, and Maxine Waters leading an impeachment effort.
That may not be a sufficient strategy, because Republicans are themselves suppressing the vote by passing massive deficits and infighting.
Nonetheless, a focus on impeachment probably is a necessary part of a strategy since even small percentage gains in turnout could make a difference.
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