Episode 16
Rank: 4
Decline: -1.00%
Lowest Approval: 41.20%
Date Range: April 6-27, 2019
Key Events:
Policy: government admits it will take years to track all the families they separated at border; judge halts remain-in-Mexico policy; Trump vetos Yemen bill
White House Chaos: Chinese woman sneaks into Mar-a-Lago; security clearance whistle blower talks to congress; Neilson resigned, in a removal of other officials in national security; reports of plans to bus immigrants to liberal cities and closing the border; talk of a purge and harsher policies to come; Grassley calls publicly for Trump to stop firing people from DHS
Russia Investigation:Nadler requests full Mueller report; some of Mueller’s team message to reporters that Barr’s letter is not telling the whole story; Barrs’ first testimony after releasing letter; Mueller report released; Pelosi talks down impeachment; Nadler subpoenas McgGahn; Trump officials on background discuss dangers Russia poses to 2020; reporting on Rosenstein keeping his job last year
Non-Russia Related Legal Troubles: Congress requests Trump’s tax returns from the IRS; Mnuchin refuses to turn over Trump’s taxes; Trump says he will refuse all Congressional inquiries
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This dip corresponds with the release of the Mueller report. 9 previous dips (56%) have been more severe, while 6 have been the same or less severe. By comparison, when Barr first announced Trump-favorable interpretation on Mueller’s report on March 24th there was no change in Trump’s approval rating for the entire week afterward. And the following week there was a brief bump of only .3 points, and from that point the 16th decline began. So the Mueller report is associated with a decline but it’s less than average severity.