With Election Day set for Nov. 3, 2020, some Sam Houston State University students are unsure whether the impeachment process of President Donald Trump will ensure Democratic success in taking the presidency.
On Sept. 24, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi announced the House would initiate an impeachment inquiry against Trump following allegations that during a phone call, he pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate possible corruption by 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, according to The New York Times.
The issue was brought to the surface by a whistleblower complaint that the Trump administration initially withheld from Congress and occurred just days after Trump and his staff froze more than $391 million in aid to Ukraine, according to The New York Times.
There has been a great deal of focus on the impeachment process as more details are released, but junior mass communication major Nick Henson said it is not worth the trouble this close to the election.
“I say the elections are coming up pretty soon anyway, why go through all this trouble,” Henson said. “Everyone’s been trying to find some way to frame Trump as, you know, try to get Trump out of office. They’ve been on his heels and finally they found one thing that they could possibly impeach him for and they’re trying to get on his heels about it.”
He said the impeachment process might have an impact on where citizens who identify as independent cast their votes.
“It might have an impact on, perhaps voting,” Henson said. “There’s a lot of neutral parties that may have swung towards Trump in the last election because a big thing was Hillary Clinton went against the workers, and that pushed a lot of his votes towards him. So maybe some of those hesitant votes might swing against him after this new election because maybe they think he’s betraying the country or whatnot.”
Senior public health major Edith Trevino said that she does not think Trump will be impeached, but she wishes he would to lessen his chances of re-election.
“I don’t think he is going to be impeached,” Trevino said. “It would be nice, so he doesn’t get re-elected, but that is not going to happen. [I have] disinterest in everything Trump.”
Freshman criminal justice major Marianne Reyes said the Republican Party will be victorious in the 2020 election because most Republicans will vote for the party regardless of the impeachment process.
“Honestly, probably the Republican Party [will win] just because, yes impeachment is going on, but also there’s a lot of people that follow the Republican Party, so I feel like it’s still going to be greater than the Democratic Party,” Reyes said.
