Independent voters across multiple states are not liking this Trump impeachment push that’s engulfed Capitol Hill. While the focus groups’ conclusion is that these crops of voters are “uninterested” about the impeachment inquiry, they’re also not too keen on the secretive nature that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), chair of the House Intelligence Committee has exhibited with this maneuver. Schiff is the starting quarterback for this effort and kept the initial phases of the impeachment proceeding in the bunker. Hours of testimony from witnesses occurred behind closed doors, select portions of the transcripts were released, and Republicans on the committee were only given brief summaries that could only be read with a Democratic staffer present. This was done to control the narrative because public hearings exposed the Russian collusion narrative as a hoax.

Yet, this was unsustainable. You cannot hold hearings about potentially removing a president in total secrecy. The House vote brought this out of the basement and lo and behold—it looks like the Democrats have nothing…again. Voters in these focus groups also noted that the lengths Democrats have gone to keep this secret as the evidence to that point. Does this mean GOP messaging is reaching Independents? Amber Athey of The Daily Caller wrote about this study:

Key independent voters are uninterested in the details of the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, according to focus groups conducted by America First Policies (AFP). AFP held 18 focus groups over the past two months in Charlotte, Columbus, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Des Moines, Orlando, Phoenix, and Miami with self-identified independent voters on the 2020 election and impeachment. The voters did not know they would be talking about politics when they were selected for the focus groups, a source close to AFP explained. The voters did not mention Ukraine, an alleged quid pro quo, Rudy Giuliani, or any other key details about the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, according to videos of the focus groups reviewed by the Daily Caller. Instead, the focus groups expressed concerns about the largely closed-door process and the fact that the inquiry is a distraction from other issues that they care about. “I don’t think the majority of the country cares. They want the problems solved,” one focus group member said, while another questioned, “Why the focus on impeachment when you can vote out Trump next year?” “The more they try the more they fail. It’s a waste of funds,” one individual said. […] Others said Democrats are not going about the inquiry “the right way,” asserting that the “sneaky” process “proves they don’t have anything.”

Now, before you point that America First Policies is a pro-Trump outfit, which is really not an insult given all the good that has come from this administration, then you’ll also know that other polls have found impeachment to be unpalatable with swing-state voters. I mean even CNN has noted that impeachment isn’t popular in battleground states. And Democrats even admit that they don’t expect to see a major shift on impeachment with the electorate. So, why are we having this again? It’s a waste of time, money, and voters don’t care. It doesn’t sound like a winning strategy for 2020.