Donald J. Trump took to Truth Social this morning to declare that his “REAL Polling Numbers” are “the best they have ever been,” which is quite a flex for a President currently posting the worst approval ratings of either of his terms.
Trump’s poll numbers are bad, and deservedly so.
Quinnipiac has him at 32-58. AP-NORC’s late-July poll was the lowest the pollster has recorded since he returned to the White House. And Nate Silver’s aggregate puts him underwater further than his post-January 6th low in his first term.
And in one recent poll by CNN, Trump’s iron-clad grip on his own party appears to be loosening. Finally.
None of that stopped Trump from crediting the (fictional) numbers to “the biggest tax cuts and employment numbers EVER,” a “totally secure Border,” a “giant Victory in Venezuela,” and the “Denuclearization of Iran” — a greatest-hits list of claims that exist mainly in the same Truth Social post where they’re used to explain away the polling.
The actual explanation, per the pollsters themselves, is a lot less flattering: voters citing inflation, cost of living, and an economy that is far from delivering what was promised. But sure—must be Fake News.