Trump poll shows impeachment backlash hitting Cheney

Donald Trump’s political operation has commissioned a poll on Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney’s reelection prospects, part of an effort to punish the most high-profile Republican who supported impeaching the former president earlier this month.

The survey paints a bleak picture of Cheney’s political standing as she faces fierce backlash from Trump supporters over her impeachment vote, with House conservatives mounting an effort to oust her from party leadership, the Wyoming Republican Party condemning her, and primary challengers lining up.

According to a memo outlining the results, 73 percent of Republican voters and 62 percent of all voters in Wyoming expressed an unfavorable view of the three-term congresswoman. Just 10 percent of Republican primary voters and 13 percent of general election voters said they would vote to reelect her. The survey of 500 likely voters, which was conducted Jan. 25-26 by Trump pollster John McLaughlin, also presents Cheney as profoundly weak in a Republican primary. The congresswoman trails 54 percent to 21 percent in a head-to-head matchup against one of her announced opponents, state Sen. Anthony Bouchard.

“Liz Cheney’s decision to vote to impeach President Trump makes her extremely vulnerable,” McLaughlin writes to Jason Miller, the former president’s senior adviser, in a memo outlining the results. “It is evident her ratings are in bad shape among general election voters and have collapsed among Republicans and Trump voters.”

A Cheney spokesperson declined to comment.

The survey, which was paid for by Save America, Trump’s newly formed political action committee, is designed to embolden would-be primary challengers to the 10 House Republicans who backed impeachment. Trump advisers say there is a deep desire to support Republican candidates looking to knock off those incumbents in next year’s primaries.

“The strong voter sentiment in this survey suggests there could be similar results for other Republicans who voted for impeachment,” McLaughlin writes in the memo.

In an implicit warning to the GOP impeachment supporters, the memo also touts Trump’s popularity in heavily Republican Wyoming since leaving office. The former president registers a 70 percent favorability rating in the state, the same share of the vote he received in the 2020 election. Among Republican voters, Trump has an 85 percent favorable figure.

Cheney delivered a scorching statement following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, saying that as part of his effort to overturn the 2020 election results, Trump “summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack." Cheney added that “there has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the constitution.”

The poll also illustrated how a rush of primary challengers could ultimately end up playing into Cheney’s hands, creating a crowded field that would splinter the vote against her. Cheney performed slightly better when the poll tested a three-way Republican primary between Cheney, Bouchard and state Rep. Chuck Gray, a Republican who isn’t yet running. The survey showed Cheney and Gray at 19 percent and Bouchard at 29 percent.

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