Episode 20
Rank: 4
Decline: -2.40%
Lowest Approval: 43.4%
Date Range: April 4-25, 2020
Key Events: COVID-19
Trump Pivot 3: Trump and Task Force first admits over 100,000 may die. “It’s absolutely critical for the American people to follow the guidelines for the next 30 days. It’s a matter of life and death.”; a lot fo talk about urgent need for testing, including Trump downplaying need in the states, and reporting on why testing was delayed due to FDA/CDC mistakes; Trump reversal of call for Easter opening; Navy captain fired for Covid-19 help request; CDC says Americans should wear face masks; Highest daily death count yet; jobless claims at 16 million, rising to 26 million; Round of major papers writing about poor Trump response in early days of the pandemic; daily press briefings continue, making Republicans nervous about Trump’s performance; Trump Pivot 4: blame shifting and push to re-open the country by May 1; failed business group task force; small business loan ran out of money; small lock down protests are first held; Trump road-testing an anti-lockdown message; Senate renews money for small business loan; some states are easing lockdowns; House passed new stimulus; Trump’s daily press briefings continue, and on 4/23 he says UV light or disinfectants might be used to kill the virus internally; talk of ending the press briefings over the weekend.
This dip–relatively low compared to the other 19 dips–is the result of two factors happening simultaneously: 1) the swift deflation of the temporary approval spike to 45.8% that corresponded with the onset of the crisis; 2) a negative news cycle going into the second month of national lockdowns where there was a lot of discussion of early missteps that got us to this point. When Trump was at his high point mentioned above there were only 1,246 dead, but by the end of this dip there were 48,816 dead.
This dip brings him closer to his homeostasis point fo 42-43%, where he has been for much of the second half of his term. The dip stalled out at around 43% for the next 4 weeks. At which point events in May and June brought on the 21st approval dip…