We have always known that at least one women in the US was clamouring for Donald Trump to be impeached.

Nancy Pelosi, the highest ranking female politician in American and speaker of the house, was the Democrat who pushed for impeachment in the first place. “This is a sad thing for our country,” Pelosi said, speaking to Stephen Colbert. “We do this prayerfully, with great seriousness. The patriotism, the Constitution is really what impeachment is about… How we go forward is a test for us to do so worthy of the Constitution. No one is above the law. President of the United States or not.”

Now, thanks to a new poll from CNN, it’s clear that women are the ones agitating for impeachment. Some 61% of women believe that Trump should be removed from office, the highest proportion in favour of impeachment since polling began. The majority of men, or 53% are against impeachment. Overall, the numbers even out to 50% of Americans in favour of impeachment and 43% against.

The numbers aren’t exactly surprising. Polling has stayed fairly steady since impeachment proceedings first commenced. Throughout October, the number of Americans who wanted to remove Trump from office hovered at the 50% mark.

But the high rates of women agitating for Trump’s impeachment could be an indicator of something greater.

Pundits are predicting that women will play a key role in the 2020 election, just as they did in the 2016 one. Back then, white women in states including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, came out in droves in support of Trump, enabling him to clinch a victory over Hillary Clinton.

Much has changed since 2016, even though much has also stayed the same. Since ascending to office, Trump has been the target of several serious sexual misconduct claims, including most prominently by author E Jean Carroll. He has overseen the successful nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the supreme court, a nomination that was made despite the allegations levelled against him by Christine Blasey Ford. In fact, Trump mocked Blasey Ford after she bravely made those allegations at hearings. Trump has also continued to antagonise Clinton as well as sitting female democrats like Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of the squad, including Ilhan Omar. 

Women have always been more likely to identify as Democrats, but since Trump’s election they’ve been leaving the Republican party in droves. Only 37% of women now identify as Republican. (Of that 37%, it must be said that 86% support Trump unequivocally.) There are only 13 congresswomen in the Republican party. Two of them have already announced that they will not be running for re-election in 2020. 

The thing is, women don’t like Trump, and you can’t blame them for that. Trump has overseen some of the most egregious rollbacks in abortion law in the US, as states across the country seek to regulate safe abortions. His government has called for the separation of families at the US border. He continues to speak in sexist, gendered ways. Recently, Trump referred to Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to the Ukraine, as “the woman” and not by her name.

No wonder, then, that 61% of women want to see Trump impeached. No wonder, then, that a record number of women are vying to run for president against Trump in 2020. No wonder, then, that women are set to be the deciding factor in how that election plays out.

If we were Trump, we’d be worried. 

Images: Getty