Analysis: Public opinion on impeachment now resembles the basic political divide that has defined the Trump era.
that Nixon had either had foreknowledge of the break-in or had tried to cover it up after the fact.
The other major public hearings came in July 1974, when the House Judiciary Committee drew up and debated five articles of impeachment against the president, ultimately adopting three of them. A Harris poll at the time found that the Judiciary hearings increased support for impeaching Nixon to 66 percent from 53 percent. Critically, the same poll found Nixon's Republican base divided, with 44 percent backing impeachment and 45 percent opposing it.
The media landscape of the mid-'70s was far narrower than today's. There was no internet or social media. Cable television was barely a rumor. Most Americans relied on the broadcast networks, their daily newspaper and perhaps the radio for news. Their exposure to competing narratives was limited. With major outlets largely telling the same story, public opinion moved with each new development.
A more apt comparison for the politics of the present might be found in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Opposition to impeaching Clinton was strong from beginning to end, but Republicans still convened Judiciary Committee hearings in November 1998. They produced no significant revelations — everyone already knew that Clinton had engaged in an affair with a former White House intern and lied about it — and succeeded only in rallying the GOP base more squarely behind impeachment. In a near-party line vote, the House ultimately impeached Clinton, who was then acquitted in the Senate.
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