In fact, amid the recent focus on the congressional GOP’s direction now, under one in five rank-and-file Republicans favor a conviction, while most still broadly value loyalty to Mr. Trump. Many current Republicans say they might even join a new party headed by Mr. Trump if he were to start one. And while almost all call violence unacceptable, most Republicans feel that efforts by Mr. Trump and some Republicans to overturn the 2020 results were justified.
To the extent there’s any split among Republicans over the way forward vis-a-vis Mr. Trump — both in terms of impeachment, specifically, and loyalty to the ex-president more generally — it’s a lopsided one in favor of the more ardent Trump backers. By more than two to one, Republicans call any GOP Senate vote to convict disloyal versus those who’d call it principled. By three to one, Republicans say it’s at least somewhat important to them the party remains loyal to Mr. Trump, generally, rather than not.
