Early polls show Trump hurt by Mueller report as media is vindicated

The release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Trump-Russia scandal has taken a toll on the president's polling numbers.

A survey conducted by Reuters/Ipsos from Thursday afternoon to Friday morning found that President Donald Trump's numbers are the lowest that they've been this year. Trump's approval rating was at 37 percent, down from 40 percent on April 15 and 43 percent following the release of Attorney General Bill Barr's summary of the Mueller report. This indicates that whatever initial benefits Trump received from Barr's spin on the Mueller report have worn off, if not worse.

Only 15 percent of the individuals surveyed said that the Mueller report had changed their opinion on the Trump-Russia investigation, with 40 percent saying Trump should be impeached and 42 percent saying that he should not be impeached. Perhaps most damning, 58 percent of Americans believe that Trump attempted to instruct the Mueller investigation.

Princeton author Julian Zellizer wrote a scathing condemnation of the Trump administration based on the Mueller report, one that was published on CNN.

"Indeed, if this is a 'good' report for the President, it is hard to imagine what a bad one would look like," Zelizer wrote.

He added, "It turns out that much of the news we have been reading was accurate, not fake -- about the Trump Tower project, about the contacts between campaign officials and individuals connected with Russia, and about the President's efforts to fire Mueller. It seems that numerous investigations spun out of Mueller's inquiry are very much in play."

https://www.salon.com/2019/04/21/early-polls-show-trump-hurt-by-mueller-report-as-media-vindicated-by-its-findings/