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Voters weary of more investigations as impeachment ramps up

FISHERS, Ind. (AP) — As Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump intensifies, Mark Stenske feels like he’s seen this movie before, and the storyline is getting old.

First, there was the nearly two-year investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and Trump’s possible role in it. Then came the accusations against Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, and contentious hearings before a Senate committee. Now it’s questions about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine’s president and whether that should lead to Trump’s removal from office.

“I think they wanted to do it all along, and they’re just looking for another way, another avenue,” Stenske, a 55-year-old Trump supporter, said of the impeachment proceedings as he walked his dog through a suburban Indianapolis park last week. “I think it’s kind of a ploy to help keep the pressure on him and muddy his campaign, his chances to win in 2020.”

Polling finds that support for the inquiry has grown since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced the start of the investigation last month following a whistleblower complaint. But what those numbers don’t show is the sense of fatigue among some Americans — a factor that could be significant as Democrats leading the inquiry debate how to proceed with an election year approaching.

It’s a feeling shared by people on both sides.

For Trump supporters such as Stenske, the impeachment inquiry is more of the same from obstructionist Democrats still bitter about the 2016 election. Those who want Trump gone say it’s tough to feel hopeful after watching him flout the rules and spew divisive rhetoric for almost a full term — and get away with all of it.

“Impeachment in general has been depressing because it’s sad that it’s taken this long,” said Megan Gettelfinger, 33, a preschool teacher and mother of two who moved to Fishers from Indianapolis almost three years ago.

The question about how to move forward with impeachment is of particular concern to both parties in places such as Fishers, one of the country’s fastest-growing suburbs. The community has more than doubled in population since 2000, to just over 90,000 people. Companies have located to the area, and young families have been drawn to its good schools, entertainment and acres and acres of green space.

The boom in Fishers and the surrounding region has changed the face of Indiana’s 5th Congressional District, a once reliably Republican area that backed Trump by nearly 12 percentage points in 2016. The increased number of college-educated, more liberal residents has given Democrats hope that they may pick up a seat here in 2020, when GOP Rep. Susan Brooks is retiring.

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