“Given where they’ve been, for congressional Republicans to say, ‘Well, we need to see all the facts,’ is a pretty important step forward,” said Bill Kristol, the conservative commentator and a founder of Defending Democracy Together.
Polls have shown a steady rise in support for the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, with a majority of Americans approving of it. But sentiment is split along party lines.
A recent CBS poll found that nearly nine in 10 Democrats approved of the inquiry, and two-thirds strongly approved, as compared to just 23 percent of Republicans.
“Overwhelmingly, Republicans oppose the impeachment inquiry,” said Mr. Ayres, the pollster. “They want their Republican elected officials to defend the president and protect him from his many enemies.”
But for Republicans in swing districts who have tight re-election races, like Mr. Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania, defending Mr. Trump at all costs is not an option. In Washington State, for instance, Representative Jamie Herrera Beutler, who represents a district Democrats have targeted, has echoed Mr. Amodei, saying that while there is not yet evidence of impeachable offenses, “for sake of this nation we should all follow a process that does not put conclusions before facts.”
Here in northern Nevada, though, sentiment runs strong in favor of Mr. Trump. Mr. Amodei’s district stretches south from Reno, past the cattle ranches and casinos that line the road to the state capital, Carson City, and into largely rural areas like Douglas County, where members of the local Republican women’s club were having their monthly luncheon last week.
“I think it’s a scam and it’s a witch hunt, just like Trump says,” said Gloria Darrington, 77, expressing the views of many here when she said she believed Democrats were simply continuing a long-running quest to undo the results of the 2016 election.