May 12, 2017

A tale of two worlds

Stef W. Kight

Evan Vucci, Carolyn Kaster / AP

Democratic members of Congress and media publishers have focused on Comey's firing, while Facebook analytics showed that news stories about the firing didn't match up to the viral levels of other Trump controversies.

Approval: 39% of Americans approved of Trump firing Comey, compared to 46% disapproval, according to the Gallup Poll. Stories were quickly published of the Comey event threatening Trump's presidency, while Gallup has watched Trump's approval rating climb from 38% at the beginning of April to 42% this week.

Congress: Democrats went wild with accusations of Trump covering up Russian collusion and comparisons to Nixon. While a few Republicans called for an independent probe into Trump-Russia collusion, most remained silent, and House and Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan defended Trump.

Social media:

Expand chart
Data: SocialFlow; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios

Headlines: The Washington Post and New York Times front pages for the past three days have been covered with stories and new revelations from the Comey firing, while conservative sites like Breitbart and National Review played up his executive orders and gave Comey stories headlines like:

  • Senate Judiciary Chairman Confirms Trump Is Not Under FBI Investigation
  • "Dershowitz: Comey Firing 'Appropriate,' No Special Prosecutor"
  • "Exclusive–James Comey 'Threw the Reputation of the FBI Under the Bus,' Says Bureau's Former Assistant Director"
  • Trump's Escape from the Comey Mess

Go deeper

Jacob Knutson

Poll: Fewer than half of Americans think Trump should be removed

Photo: Jess Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday found that less than half of Americans polled believe Donald Trump, now the third president in U.S. history to be impeached, should be convicted in a Senate trial and removed from office.

Why it matters: The poll, conducted hours after the House charged Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, signifies that voters remain divided on impeachment and found that Wednesday's vote did little to change public opinion.

Go deeperArrowDec 19, 2019
Rebecca Falconer

Kamala Harris accuses Mitch McConnell of seeking Senate cover-up

Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Sen. Kamala Harris wrote in a New York Times op-ed Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell "wants a Senate cover-up," as she pushed for acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton to testify at the Senate trial.

"He is already trying to limit the impeachment trial by preventing witnesses from testifying, and he has all but announced a verdict. In doing so, he showed the American people that he has no intention of honoring his oath."
— Excerpt from Kamala Harris' New York Times op-ed
Go deeperArrowDec 19, 2019
Fadel Allassan

Sixth Democratic debate draws smallest audience in election cycle

Thursday night's Democratic primary debate. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

About 6.171 million people watched December's Democratic debate hosted by CNN, Politico and PBS NewsHour on Thursday, according to Nielsen data cited by CNN on Friday.

The big picture: That makes Thursday's debate the least-watched of this election cycle, The Hollywood Reporter notes. The second night of the first debate, hosted by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo in June, was the most-watched Democratic primary debate of all time, with 18.1 million people tuning in.

Go deeperArrowDec 20, 2019