President Donald Trump dismissed polls showing his approval rating falling ahead of November’s midterm elections, insisting Americans should trust his claim that his support is closer to 60 percent.
In an interview with The Washington Examiner’s Byron York, published Saturday, Trump called the polling figures “fake” when asked about a RealClearPolitics average showing 38.8 percent of Americans approved of his job performance, while 60.4 percent disapproved.
“It’s fake,” Trump said.
When York pressed him on what he believed his actual approval rating was, Trump rejected the figures and insisted his support was much higher.
“The job approval, they said it’s 37, 38?” Trump asked. “I’m not at 38.”
Trump continued: “I don’t believe I could be beaten by anybody. I think that if I needed it, which I don’t, I think 60.”
Trump pointed to his strong support among Republican voters and his MAGA base as evidence of his higher approval rating. However, national polling has consistently shown a less favorable picture of the president’s standing.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted between October 16 and 19 found that 34 percent approved of his performance and 65 percent disapproved. A Pew Research Center survey conducted September 28 through October 4 found that just 30 percent of Americans approved of Trump’s performance, while 68 percent disapproved.
A separate New York Times/Siena College poll released this week put his approval rating at 34 percent, which the newspaper said was the lowest for a president approaching midterm elections since Harry Truman’s 33 percent in 1946.
Trump’s rejection of polling figures comes amid a controversy involving The New York Times and Wedgewood Research, a polling firm that acknowledged producing fabricated polling numbers as part of a social experiment. The newspaper said it did not use the disputed polls when calculating Trump’s job approval rating.
To support his claim that he remains popular, Trump pointed to an analysis by CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten showing the president’s support among MAGA Republicans remains near 100 percent. Enten reported that Trump received 99 percent of the MAGA Republican vote in the 2024 election and had a 98 percent approval rating among MAGA Republicans in September.
“I think I’d be in the 60s now. Now, in the Republican Party, I’m way up. Show him the 99 percent. Have you seen it?” Trump said.
However, Enten also found that Trump’s net approval rating on inflation fell from +8 points in 2024 to -45 ahead of the midterms.
This week, Enten called the president’s polling situation “a five-alarm Trumpster fire” after a Reuters/Ipsos survey put Trump’s approval rating at 31 percent, the lowest recorded for him across both of his presidential terms.
Despite the unfavorable figures, Trump continued praising Enten and CNN for polling that reflects his support among Republican voters.
“They did do some nice polls on me, I must say. If CNN keeps doing those polls, I’ll like them more and more,” Trump said.
This article originally appeared on The Independent at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-approval-ratings-midterms-b3072742.html