this isn t pre-detective of the future, but i certainly take a look at these numbers and see they sort of match up with a lot of the other numbers we re seeing out there. i think this is a very locked in, divided country on this issue of impeachment because we live in really polarized times. all right. david chalian, thanks. back with jeff toobin, kirsten powers and joining us is rick santorum. kirsten, are you surprised by these numbers? the idea that support for impeachment has gone down among democrats that is very surprising and it s a pretty big drop-off. i think it was from 90% in the last poll to 77% in this poll. that doesn t make sense really. my first reaction was i was thinking the number one concern for democrats is they don t want donald trump to get re-elected. i thought maybe they thought this would somehow help get him re-elected. that doesn t make sense to me. i it ill would say it s not a small number.
always are opportunities for the congress and the president to fight about what each demands from the other, and the court is the one that def sides that. but that doesn t understand my question. why when past presidents have done this, why won t trump just let them come testify? because the precedent in this case, he s not going to stick with the precedent. that s not the issue. the issue is do you impeach someone because they don t comply with a subpoena? and if that s the standard, that is a very, very slippery slope, a very dangerous one. senator santorum, thank you. coming up still ahead, the congressman who plans to switch parties from democrat to republican, you d expect president trump is thrilled. what about voters in congressman jeff van drew s district? we ll hear what they have to say in a moment. every family has their own unique story. give your family the chance to discover theirs this holiday season, with ancestry.
and move it forward. senator santorum, republicans have complained that because of what s happening right now, impeachment will be weaponized by politicians in the future against presidents they don t like. what about just not electing someone who veers toward lies and misconduct? yeah, look, there s one one of the two articles really does bother me on the weaponization front, and that is the second one of obstruction because every single president that i m familiar with has basically, you know, rebuffed subpoenas and said no to the congress. and if you re going to impeach someone because you don t want to wait for the time for a court to decide whether to enforce these subpoenas or not, that s a big problem. but, rick i think that s a very, very dangerous steps that the democrats have taken. but why i mean but bill clinton allowed his staff to testify. nixon allowed his staff to testify. why should the democrats have to go to court to get that? again, president aside
about him. senator santorum, a, what do you make of this poll? there s still a very significant amount of people, to kirsten s point, who do want the president impeached and removed, which is certainly no small thing. well, it s a poll that sort of affirms what s going to happen here. that republicans are overwhelmingly against impeachment and don t want him removed. the democrats are overwhelmingly for impeachment and want him removed, so that s what you re going to see. what happens in washington, i ve said many times, there s a bunch of followers down here, not a whole bunch of leaders. so the public is squarely in two camps, and they re squarely in two camps here. do you think senator, do you think the senate trial makes a difference one way or another in terms of how the country views this? you know, based on how the trial goes, if witnesses are called, or is this just baked in and there won t be other blips based on what happens in the senate trial? you know, this is a
with he have to bear in mind even if impeachment wasn t involved, they would still be having a hard race. even no matter how they vote, these democrats it s going to pass anyway. it s likely the president will be impeached in the house. that s right. and it is no coincidence that nancy pelosi is bringing up the fair trade deal with mexico and canada the next day so that those moderates can say, look, we re not just doing impeachment. we are giving this very serious, very important trade deal an affirmative vote, which actually the president supports, which i think is a very important talking point for these vulnerable democrats. senator santorum, just before break, we were talking about the senate trial. as a former senator, do you think it s going to be a fair process? you know, many of the jurors, including majority leader mcconnell, say they ve made up their minds on impeachment or know how it s going to go. democrats hear that and think, well, that seems unfair. obviously r