Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang Andrew YangDoctor who allegedly assaulted Evelyn Yang arrested on federal charges The Hill's Campaign Report: Biden weighs in on police shootings | Who's moderating the debates | Trump trails in post-convention polls Buttigieg launches his own podcast MORE blasted his party for being "obsessed" with President Trump Donald John TrumpBubba Wallace to be driver of Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin NASCAR team Graham: GOP will confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominee before the election Southwest Airlines, unions call for six-month extension of government aid MORE and impeachment at Thursday’s debate, saying Democrats appeared out of touch for ignoring the broader economic forces that led to Trump’s election.

“Congress’s approval is at 17 percent and Americans don’t trust the media networks to tell them the truth,” Yang said. “The media didn’t do us any favors by missing why Trump became president in the first place … you’d think he’s president due to some combination of Russia, racism, Facebook, Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonJoe Biden looks to expand election battleground into Trump country Biden leads Trump by 12 points among Catholic voters: poll The Hill's Campaign Report: Biden goes on offense MORE and emails all mixed together.”

“But Americans know different,” he continued. “We blasted away 4 million manufacturing jobs primarily based in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Missouri. I just left Iowa where we blasted 40,000 manufacturing jobs. The more we act like Trump is the cause of all our problems, the more Americans lose trust that we can address their concerns.”

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The Democratic candidates were asked at the start of the debate why public opinion was so divided on impeachment even after the House had made the case that Trump illicitly threatened to withhold funds from Ukraine if the country did not open an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenJoe Biden looks to expand election battleground into Trump country Trump puts Supreme Court fight at center of Ohio rally Special counsel investigating DeVos for potential Hatch Act violation: report MORE.

Yang warned that Democratic focus on impeachment would be a political loser in 2020, and said the party must instead focus on how to improve the lives of working class people who lost jobs to automation.

Yang said “we have to stop being obsessed with impeachment” and instead “start digging in and solving the problems that got Trump elected in the first place.”

Andrew Yang: "What we have to do is we have to stop being obsessed over impeachment ... and start actually digging in and solving the problems that got Donald Trump elected in the first place." https://t.co/V26pEEegjA #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/JLn3TwCTy4 — CNN (@CNN) December 20, 2019

"The American people are treating impeachment like a ballgame where they already know the score,” he added.