After impeachment vote, Romney is now a pariah among Republicans

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/10/after-impeachment-vote-romney-is-now-pariah-among-republicans/

By Aaron Blake

March 10, 2020 at 9:53 a.m. EDT

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better example of the Republican Party’s transition to Trumpism than this: Both of Trump’s two predecessors as the Republican presidential nominee voted against him on a key vote, and each found themselves suddenly less popular with Republicans than Democrats.

A new Gallup poll on Tuesday showed the Utah senator’s support among Republicans cratering following his vote to remove Trump from office in his impeachment trial. Romney became the first member of a president’s party to ever vote to remove him.

For his trouble, Romney is now something amounting to a pariah in the national Republican Party. Gallup pegged his approval among Republicans and Republican-leaning voters at 84 percent when he was the GOP nominee in November 2012. Now it has it at just 23 percent.

In contrast, Romney’s approval rating has surged among Democrats and Democratic leaners. It’s now at 56 percent — more than twice his approval among his party’s base.



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I predict we'll flip his seat without running anyone against him.

[Alliepoo]

1. I sent Mr Romney an email

Saying that while our politics are certainly different, I admire that he voted his conscience despite the criticism he was receiving from his party members.

[irisblue]

2. His next Senate election is in 2024, an eternity in politics

You really think Utah will go purple?

[Wounded Bear]

3. They might try to primary him...

but with any luck, Trump will be long gone by then and Repubs will go into "whodat" mode regarding Trump.

Not sure there is a lot of Trumpism in Utah, though it is red, red, red.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. Yeah

by then, Romney could be considered a hero for going against Trump. Or at least it won't hurt him.

[Dennis Donovan]

4. I think he'll switch parties if Trumplicans (if not Trump) retain a hold on the GOP

If the election goes our way and Trumpism is completely squashed, he'll return to being a standard bearer for the GOP.

[marble falls]

6. He'll never turn parties. He'll be re-elected.

[Dennis Donovan]

7. Not if he's going to be primaried in 2014

He'll flip faster than Rick Gates.

Like I said, if the GOP continues to be Trumpublican, there's no way he stays in the party. If the Trump stranglehold is broken and the GOP needs a standard bearer, it'll be him.

[marble falls]

8. Denny, we're talking about Utah. Republican Mormons in AZ and UT are not happy ...

with Trump.

[Dennis Donovan]

10. What about Mike Lee?

[marble falls]

11. Mike Lee ain't Saint Mitt Romney.

[Aristus]

15. I keep hearing how blue Salt Lake City is.

Are they not able to turn the state blue because of rural Mormons with their twenty-seven children families?

[marble falls]

5. He'll be re-elected with no problem, two years after Donnie Two Scoops is turned out.

[Laelth]

9. No good deed goes unpunished.

Romney is feeling that now.

-Laelth

[JHB]

13. If he wanted to, Romney could make himself the focus of "reasonable" Republicans...

That's how they think of themselves, anyway. I'll avoid the digression of airing my own opinion of that.

If (a huge "if" ) he abandons his presidential ambitions, the only Republicans whose vote matters to him are those in Utah, where they hate the Mango Blasphemy Gusher. Freed from having to pander to the same people who were "Anybody But Mitt" in the 2012 primaries, he could (theoretically) rally a bloc of "reasonable" Republicans. The sort who voted for the Libertarian candidate in 2016 because, of course, they're not actually reasonable and would not vote for "that woman".


But he won't. There's no sign that he's capable of that sort of courage. Maybe someone else might, and Mitt'd jump to the front of that parade in a heartbeat if it gained any traction, but he won't take lead in getting anything like that off the ground.

What he'll do is what he's done all along: Make occasional noises, but otherwise knuckle under like Good German... err... Republicans do.

[Baitball Blogger]

14. After his next election, he will probably have more friendlies on

both sides of the aisle.

[Vogon_Glory]

16. I suspect that Mittsie will survive the wreck of Trumpublicanism

Trumpublicanism’s day of reckoning is coming this year or in 2022. Mittsie’s in a safe state and I doubt being pro-Trump will be popular in Utah in 2024.

[empedocles]

17. Mittens seems relatively, very well positioned for, - post trump