The GOP is aiming to expose the Democrat impeachment inquiry as a partisan bust, launching a coordinated, multimillion-dollar ad blitz targeting pro-impeachment lawmakers serving in districts that President Trump won in 2016.
The GOP is, figuratively, dropping bombs on House Democrats, launching a $7 million coordinated anti-impeachment campaign spanning across 37 vulnerable districts. The massive campaign, which brands impeachment as a “politically motivated charade,” is coordinated by the American Action Network. The group works with other “like-minded groups” and describes its mission as putting “center-right ideas into action by engaging the hearts and minds of the American people and spurring them into active participation in our democracy.”
The Politico Playbook describes the effort as “the most expansive, coordinated ad campaign on impeachment to date,” which indicates that internal polling – as it has in the recent past – suggests that impeachment is not resonating with voters.
The campaign includes “$5 million in new television advertising across 20 Congressional Districts urging Members of Congress to drop the partisan charade and vote ‘no’ on impeaching President Trump” and an additional $2 million “in digital and social media advertising running across 37 Congressional Districts,” per the release:
The ad campaign targets specific pro-impeachment Democrats such as Reps. Max Rose (D-NY), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and Joe Cunningham (D-SC) and uses damning remarks from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) as a focal point.
“This [impeachment] is about preventing a potentially disastrous outcome from occurring next year,” Ocasio-Cortez said during an appearance on CNN last week.
“Joe Cunningham promised to be different, but he’s not. Instead of working to secure our border, fix health care, and pass a new trade deal with our neighbors which creates real jobs, he supported the partisan impeachment investigation,” the narrator in the 30-second ad spot targeting Cunningham states.
“Tell Congressman Cunningham, let the voters decide elections,” the narrator adds. “Vote no on impeachment and get to work”:
A similar ad targets Rose, using his own words against him.
“Max Rose promised to be different. He told us, ‘The truth is, impeachment will only tear our country further apart,’” the narrator in Rose’s ad states, calling impeachment a “politically motivated charade”:
The group is reportedly spending big bucks on Rose alone – $500,000. It is also spending $500,000 “against Reps. Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Susie Lee of Nevada.”
“Michigan Reps. Elissa Slotkin and Haley Stevens will have $400,000 against them,” per Politico:
— EACH DISTRICT will have at least 800 points, a measure of the size and frequency of an ad campaign compared to the audience, on air. Reps. Anthony Brindisi (N.Y.), Kendra Horn (Okla.), Jared Golden (Maine), Xochitl Torres Small (N.M.) and Cunningham all have 1,200 points.
The $7 million ad blitz is indicative of growing confidence among the GOP in regards to public support, or lack thereof, of impeachment.
A Republican National Committee (RNC) memo containing internal GOP polling data, obtained by Breitbart News last month, showed that the American public is losing interest in the partisan impeachment inquiry. Independents, particularly, do not appear to support the effort, with 54 against and 34 percent in favor.
As Breitbart News reported:
“We have seen public polling drastically under sample Independent voters, which is one of the many reasons for so much incorrect public data over the past month,” the memo explains regarding the disparity between internal GOP numbers and public polling from news organizations and polling institutions.
What’s more, internal RNC polling data, according to this memo, shows Democrats have lost support among their own base significantly in just the past week.
“Support among Democrats for the ridiculous attempt to remove the President from office is down 10 points over the past week,” the memo says.
An internal poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies for National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and Team McCarthy last month, found that the majority of voters in key congressional Trump-won districts do not view Trump’s phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky – a conversation which Democrats used as a catalyst to launch their partisan inquiry – as an impeachable offense.
As Breitbart News detailed:
The poll shows the majority, 59 percent, do not view the conversation as an impeachable offense, while 37 percent view it as impeachable. While opinions on impeachment are largely divided on party lines, the majority of independents– 57 percent – do not view the conversation itself as impeachable.
The survey spelled trouble for Democrats who hold seats in Trump-won districts. The vast majority – 62 percent – consider the conversation between the two leaders was “appropriate.” Only 33 percent considered it impeachable. Furthermore, Republican candidates in Trump districts represented by Democrats hold a “double-digit advantage” over impeachment-supporting Democrats.
The majority of respondents, 58 percent, said that Democrats “have not accomplished much since taking the House, and 62 percent believe that the impeachment inquiry will continue to distract them from achieving promised policy goals” – two points the GOP is driving home in the $7 million anti-impeachment campaign.
“The left has admitted time and time again that impeachment isn’t about the facts, it’s about damaging President Trump for their political ends. But in America, voters should decide elections for themselves,” AAN President Dan Conston said, according to a press release.
He added, “Members of Congress need to stand up, vote no, and get back to work on the issues Americans care about, like passing a new trade deal, creating good jobs, and securing our border.”