WASHINGTON _ Democratic voters despise Donald Trump. A leading donor has spent millions urging the president's ouster. And many liberals say their party must adopt bigger, bolder ideas to motivate the base.
So why haven't Democrats embraced calls for impeachment?
Interviews with leading strategists and grass-roots liberals reveal that the party's leaders have quietly made clear that calls to remove the president are bad politics _ and perhaps surprisingly, its activist base doesn't care all that much about it.
"Frankly, it's a little abstract for someone terrified of losing coverage because they have a pre-existing condition or can't afford their insulin," said Ben Wikler, Washington director for the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org.
MoveOn.org and other grass-roots progressive groups called for Trump's impeachment last year, after the president fired FBI Director James Comey. But in part because those same groups haven't pushed other Democrats to adopt the same position, many Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have called impeachment talk premature.
Most remarkably, no Democratic candidate in a battleground House race has come out in favor of impeachment _ despite most running in competitive, multi-candidate primaries where such a position would have conceivably helped them win over voters infuriated by the president.
Here's why:
