50 percent of Republican voters say Cheney should lose leadership position: poll

Roughly 50 percent of Republican voters said that they believe Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) should be removed from her role as House Republican Conference chair, according to a Politico-Morning Consult poll released Wednesday. 

The survey, which polled nearly 2,000 registered voters over the weekend, found that half of those who identified as Republican or “leans Republican” supported House Republicans voting to remove Cheney, while just 19 percent said she should remain in her post. 

Meanwhile, 62 percent of those who identified as Democrats or “leans Democrat” said that they think Cheney should stay in her position as No. 3 House Republican, with just 12 percent supporting her ousting. 

The survey comes the same day House Republicans are expected to meet behind closed doors and vote to remove Cheney over her criticism of former President Trump, with many supporting replacing her with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). Stefanik has grown to be a staunch defender of Trump, supporting him during his first impeachment proceedings in 2019 and promoting his unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. 

Cheney has gained growing opposition among House Republicans for her continued criticism of Trump after she was one of 10 GOP members to join Democrats in voting to impeach him for inciting the Jan. 6 mob attack at the Capitol. Her fellow House Republicans appear all but likely to remove her from her leadership post on Wednesday. 

“Every one of us who has sworn the oath must act to prevent the unraveling of our democracy,” the Wyoming congresswoman said in a House floor speech Tuesday evening,

“This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans,” she added, while committing to continue pushing back against Trump’s election claims. 

Wednesday’s poll reported a margin of error of 2 percentage points.