2019 Context*

*Before digging into the information on this page, please read the narrative in the Annual Context Overview where you will find an important explanation that contextualizes the contextual information!

2019 SURVEY CONTEXT

The 2019 survey was fielded throughout the month of May. We list here factors that occurred the year prior and up through the survey period. Accordingly, the contextual factors presented range from January 2018 - May 2019, in loose chronological order.

• Heated debate in the US about the Trump administration’s immigration policy

• President Trump declared tariffs on imports, spurring a trade war especially with China; caused retaliatory tariffs and impacted US businesses and international relations

• Ongoing investigation into Russian interference in 2016 US presidential election

• Global climate crisis heightened; October 2018 report from United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that we may have as few as twelve years to act or pass the point of no return

• Protests against French president Emmanuel Macron; Italians elected a populist coalition; Hungary’s democracy continued to crumble; Angela Merkel stepped down as head of Christian Democratic Union in Germany

• Deadliest and most destructive wildfire season in California thus far

• #metoomovement went global; in the US the movement led into the Supreme Court battle with the nomination and later confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh who had a string of sexual assault allegations (Sept 2018), and amidst this crisis, Bill Cosby was sentenced for sexual assault (Sept 2018) and Kevin Spacey was charged with sexual assault (Dec 2018)

• Humanitarian crises continued in many countries, raising questions about responsibility for protection by national and world leaders

• US Pentagon released new defense strategy that called for aggressive steps to counter Russia and China in the power game (Jan 2018)

• Student opened fire at a Kentucky high school, killing two people and injuring at least 14 others (Jan 2018)

• Larry Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor, sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing more than 150 women and girls over two decades (Jan 2018)

• South Korea hosted the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, from which Russia was banned after the International Olympic Committee found evidence of an "unprecedented systematic manipulation" (Feb 2018)

• Former student opened fire at a high school in Florida, killing 17 people (Feb 2018)

• Vladimir Putin reelected as president of Russia (Mar 2018)

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made surprise trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (Mar 2018)

• Russian President Putin announced a new arsenal of nuclear weapons, including an intercontinental cruise missile, that could outsmart all American defenses (Mar 2018)

• US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced “zero tolerance” policy for illegal border crossings (May 2018)

• Gina Haspel confirmed as first female director of the CIA (May 2018)

• Gunman opened fire at a high school in Texas, killing 10 people and injuring 13 others (May 2018)

• Stacey Abrams won Georgia Democratic primary election for governor; first black woman in the US to win a major party’s nomination for the office (May 2018)

• US left the Iran Nuclear Deal (May 2018)

• Nicolás Maduro reelected as president of Venezuela (May 2018)

• Antwon Rose II shot and killed by Pittsburgh police officer during traffic stop; officer charged with criminal homicide (June 2018)

• Gunman opened fire on the newsroom of the Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland, killing five people and inuring two others (June 2018)

• Giuseppe Conte, a law professor who had never held political office, sworn in as Italy’s new Prime Minister; another indication of shift to populist government (June 2018)

• US pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council (June 2018)

• Christine Hallquist won the Democratic primary in the Vermont governor’s race; first openly transgender gubernatorial candidate for a major party (Aug 2018)

• Grand jury report published documenting credible allegations of abuse by more than 300 “predator priests” in six Pennsylvania dioceses (Aug 2018)

• Canada, Mexico and the US joined to revise the North America Free Trade Agreement, now called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (Sept 2018)

• Brett Kavanaugh sworn in as Supreme Court Justice, replacing retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, amid public protests in support of and against the confirmation (Oct 2018)

• Gunman opened fire at a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania synagogue, killing 11 people (Oct 2018)

• Jair Bolsonaro won Brazil’s presidential election (Oct 2018)

• Mid-term elections turned the US House of Representatives to Democratic majority, as record 102 women won seats; Republicans held the Senate (Nov 2018)

• Gunman opened fire in a California bar, killing 12 people and injuring many others (Nov 2018)

• Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, sentenced to three years in prison for crimes that included arranging payments during the 2016 election to silence women who claimed affairs with Trump (Dec 2018)

• President Trump declared the US defeated ISIS and ordered full withdrawal of US military forces from Syria (Dec 2018)

• Dow Jones closed at the lowest since 2008 (Dec 2018)

• Many 2020 presidential candidates began to declare intention to run in early 2019

• Surge in Central Americans at the US southern border seeking asylum; US immigration system is overwhelmed

• Fires and deforestation increased dramatically in the Amazon in 2019, making it the worst year in the past decade

• US-China trade war continued throughout 2019

• 2019 opened with US government still in shutdown, which began Dec 2018 due to party conflict about President Trump’s demands for funding for a wall along the US-Mexico border

• Rep. Nancy Pelosi elected as US House Speaker (Jan 2019)

• Longest US government shutdown in history (35 days) ended when President Trump agreed to sign a short-term funding bill (Jan 2019)

• US Supreme Court allowed President Trump’s transgender military ban to take effect (Jan 2019)

• Many candidates announced Democratic presidential bids (Jan-May 2019)

• US Senate confirmed William Barr as attorney general (Feb 2019)

• President Trump declared national emergency to build wall along US-Mexico border, which was challenged by federal lawsuits from attorneys general in 16 states (Feb 2019)

• President Trump signed border security measure negotiated by Congress, with $1.375 billion set aside for barriers; averted another government shutdown (Feb 2019)

• 50 people, including famous actors, charged in college admissions cheating scandal (Mar 2019)

• Gunman opened fire on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 51 people; Prime Minister Jacinda Adern announced the ban of various types of assault weapons in New Zealand (Mar 2019)

• After two years of investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 US presidential election was released in redacted form; the report conveyed that the Trump campaign did not conspire or coordinate with Russia, yet provided much evidence that President Trump attempted to obstruct justice (Apr 2019)

• Volodymyr Zelensky, comedian and television star, elected president of Ukraine (Apr 2019)