Trump touts his ‘real polling numbers’ in paranoid ‘fake news’ rant but offers no proof they exist
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump exploded at coverage of his job performance on Monday morning as his voter ID agenda continues to stall in Congress and the war with Iran pushes his numbers down more and more each day.
The president penned an angry Truth Social rant aimed at media organizations he claimed were pushing fake polls to deride him as an unpopular president.
“My REAL Polling Numbers, not those made up by the Fake News Media, are the best they have ever been, and why wouldn’t they be with the biggest tax cuts and employment numbers EVER,” claimed Trump.
“Don’t believe the Radical Left’s Fake Poll numbers. They are Crooked and Corrupt, just like the Country Destroying Dumocrats are Crooked and Corrupt,” he went on.
The president provided no links, screenshots or data of any kind to back up his assertions.
Donald Trump attacked media outlets over ‘fake’ polling again Monday (Reuters)
Meanwhile, respected polling outfits with histories of accurate predictions of all political stripes continue to paint roughly the same picture of his administration: one beset by the typical political consequences of economic pain and the anger of Americans, including many Trump voters, over America’s participation in a lengthening military conflict after the president’s promise to keep the U.S. out of such entanglements.
An Associated Press/NORC poll released near the end of July found the president with the approval of just one-third of all American adults, while 66 percent disapproved of his job performance.
That result has been borne out in other surveys, like a Quinnipiac survey taken over the same time frame, that showed Trump with 32 percent approval and 58 percent disapproval. Even in the latest polling by Trump-friendly Fox News, also taken in July, Trump’s approval rating is only a few points higher — 39 percent.
It’s clear what the reason is for Trump’s massive dip — the war. The AP-NORC survey found that only two in 10 Americans support continuing the war, cutting significantly into Republicans and GOP-leaning independents.
Donald Trump’s low approval ratings are making things difficult for John Thune and congressional Republican leaders (Getty)
The president has long accused media outlets of faking his polling when it drops, only to turn around and embrace those same surveys when his approval rating rebounds.
In January, he wrote on Truth Social that “fake polling” should be “virtually” a “criminal offense”. It is not, and there’s no evidence that any of the major polling outlets have ever published false data.
Polling data shows that Trump’s problems extend far beyond just a temporary dip in popularity.
The president’s job performance is dipping among Republicans in the first significant way since he has returned to power and quite possibly in a more serious manner than the dip of approval he saw in the immediate aftermath of January 6.
A CNN poll released last month found the president’s approval rating with Republicans dipping below 80 percent as the war with Iran departed from a shaky ceasefire agreement and fell back into open hostilities, causing gas prices to spike well past the $4 per gallon national average.
Mike Johnson is trying to protect a GOP majority in the House against projections that Democrats will take ove the chamber (Reuters)
The survey showed a 10-point drop for the president among members of his own base in CNN’s polling over the course of one year.
Without the president on the ballot this year, the twin Republican caucuses in the House and Senate are playing defense as the president’s party typically loses seats during midterm election years.
This year could be a blowout for Democrats, who are projected to make gains in both chambers and thanks to Trump’s own interference in the GOP Senate caucus could stand to take both majorities.
The president’s severe popularity issues are a serious problem for Republicans, who’ve aligned themselves closely with his agenda over the past nearly two years.
