Poll: Utah voters split on Romney’s impeachment vote

Registered voters in Utah are split on whether Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R) vote to convict President Trump in his impeachment trial last week makes them more or less likely to back Romney’s reelection.

The Deseret News-Hinckley Institute of Politics survey released Tuesday found that 37 percent of registered voters surveyed said they were less likely to support Romney’s reelection, while 36 percent said they were more likely to back the senator. The difference between the two is within the poll’s 4.5 percentage point margin of error. 

Twenty-two percent said the senator’s impeachment vote made no impact on how they will vote if Romney mounts a theoretical reelection bid, while 5 percent said they are not sure.

A majority of GOP voters —56 percent — said they were less likely to back the senator in his reelection, which isn’t until 2024. 

The poll also found that 49 percent of all registered voters viewed Romney’s vote positively, while 40 percent viewed it negatively; 11 percent said they were not sure. 

Romney, the first senator to vote to convict a president of his own party in an impeachment, faced fierce backlash from Trump and his allies.

But pollster Scott Rasmussen said Utah voters’ reaction to the senator’s vote was mild.

“I think that the events that are considered earth-shattering or momentous in Washington, D.C., don’t necessarily carry the same weight when you get out to voters across the country,” Rasmussen said, according to Desert News. 

Romney supported an article of impeachment that said Trump had abused his authority in his dealings with Ukraine, but against another that accused Trump of obstruction of Congress. Both fell well short of the two-thirds needed to remove Trump from office.

The poll surveyed 500 Utah registered voters between Feb. 7 and 10.