DES MOINES, Iowa Before I visited Iowa last week to report on the 2020 campaign, I expected to find an impeachment-free zone, a piece of Americas heartland where voters cared little about the inquiry that has become an obsession on Capitol Hill.
I was wrong.
Over three days in the state, I asked Democratic voters if they were paying any attention to the presidents impending impeachment in the House. Most looked at me as if I had lost my mind.
Yes, yes, yes, said Alicia Palas, 28, a retail store manager from Des Moines.
I think about it every day, said Angie Septer, 42, a dental assistant from Des Moines. They impeached Bill Clinton for adultery. This guy committed treason.
Every Democrat is paying attention, said Don Dumdei, 65, a retired data analyst from Waukee.
Its true that voters arent peppering Democratic presidential candidates with questions about Trumps quid pro quo in Ukraine or the Constitutions emoluments clause, but theres a reason for that.
Its kind of a no-brainer, explained Jim Eliason, the Democratic chairman in rural Buena Vista County. All the candidates agree that Trump ought to be impeached. Theres not much to ask about.
Voters want to know what a President Biden, a President Warren or a President Buttigieg would do to restore the farm economy after Trumps ruinous trade war with China, improve their access to affordable healthcare or deal with the ravages of climate change not how fervently they want to impeach the man theyre already competing to replace.
Besides, Iowa voters read the same Washington forecasts as the rest of us: the House may vote to impeach Trump, but the Republican Senate appears certain to let him keep his job.
The whole affair could blow over like the winter snow squalls that are already sweeping across the Corn Belt.
A recent poll showed that Iowa voters rank several issues as more important than impeachment: for Democrats, healthcare and the economy; for Republicans, the economy and immigration.
And who can blame them? Those challenges will persist long after Trump is either removed from office, left in place, or even reelected to a second term.
Mainly, folks wonder whether it might snow in the middle of the corn harvest, Art Cullen, editor of the Storm Lake Times in northwest Iowa, wrote this week. And whether that idled ethanol plant will fire up again. And if they will lose money again this year because of the trade war.
