How Democrats fell out of love with impeaching Trump

Almost from the day that Donald Trump won the White House in 2016, a significant chunk of Democrats have wanted Congress to throw him out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue via impeachment. Which makes the latest finding on impeachment in a CNN-SSRS poll all the more intriguing.

Just more than one in three respondents said they support an effort to impeach Trump. That's down from 43% who said the same in December and 47% who supported impeachment earlier in the fall of 2018. But more amazingly -- at least to me! -- is that while 80% of self-identified Democrats said they backed impeaching Trump in December, just 68% feel that way now.

Remarkable, no? 

The decline in the desire of Democrats to run Trump out of town on a rail comes roughly a week after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) went public with her opposition to pursuing impeachment against Trump. Pelosi told The Washington Post:

"I'm not for impeachment. This is news. I'm going to give you some news right now because I haven't said this to any press person before. But since you asked, and I've been thinking about this: Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there's something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don't think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he's just not worth it."

Pelosi's stance drew praise from a very unlikely source -- former Trump political strategist Steve Bannon -- who, in an interview for Showtime's "The Circus," said he would give her a 10 out of 10 on how she has managed the speakership and talk of impeachment.

What will be interesting to watch in the coming weeks and months is whether 2020 presidential candidates -- many of whom have already called for Trump's impeachment -- walk back that rhetoric even slightly, or whether they will double down because that's what the base wants.

Asked in a CNN-sponsored town hall Monday about her stance on impeachment, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said this:

"So we have a report that is due from the special prosecutor any day now. Understand that that investigation from Mr. Mueller has produced already -- I believe it's 34 indictments or guilty pleas. This is a serious investigation. We need to protect him in finishing that report, and then that report needs to be made public to the American people. When we get it, we will know what to do with it."

Which, if you're playing along at home, isn't a direct answer.

The Point: Keep an eye on whether more 2020 Democrats start hedging -- a la Warren -- on impeachment. Polling suggests Democrats are considerably less hyped about the prospect than they were even six months ago.