President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday night, “Except what is written and broadcast in the Fake News, I now have the highest poll numbers I’ve ever had, some in the 60’s and even 70’s. Thank you. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Once again Trump appears to be making up flattering facts. But his old habit hits differently in this chapter of his presidency, as he carries out a playbook designed to subvert the functioning of our democracy.
I find it harder to laugh off Trump's misinformation and disinformation about his purported popularity the way I once did.
The president’s claims have no grounding in national surveys. The RealClearPolling average puts Trump deeply underwater, with 46% job approval (and 51% disapproval). That's nearly 5 points down from the 50.5% average approval he held when he returned to office in January. Polling analyst Nate Silver's aggregator puts Trump's average approval 2 points lower, at about 44%. While that's better than Trump was at at this point in his first term, it's worse than for any other presidents at this point in their terms, according to Silver. Even the polls with the most favorable results for Trump don't get anywhere remotely close to Trump's being approved of by over 70% of Americans.
On the other hand, Gallup's July polling showed Trump hitting his lowest approval ratings in its polling of his presidency so far — 37% — much of it driven by independents' turning on Trump. Gallup also found Trump weak on his strongest campaign issues, including 38% approval of his immigration policy and 37% approval on his handling of the economy.
Trump may have won the popular vote in November, but he was above water in polling averages for barely a second before his actual execution of his extremist agenda produced a plunge in his approval.
Trump seemingly made the "60’s and even 70’s" numbers up out of thin air — or he is misleadingly referring to some kind of polling reflecting his own party's approval of him, which remains high. But I find it harder to laugh off Trump's misinformation and disinformation about his purported popularity the way I once did. It's not just a project of narcissism. It's a narrative designed to frame all of his actions — including authoritarian ones — as backed by an incontestable popular mandate.
When Trump was rejected by the American public in the 2020 election, he tried to do everything in his power, from lawfare to inciting a riot at the U.S. Capitol, to deny that reality. If a weaker-than-expected jobs report threatens to undermine Trump's narrative that he's improving the economy, he simply cans a person at the agency behind it.
Now as Trump oversees an illegitimate military occupation of the nation's capital, he's claiming that there is clear popular appetite for an autocrat to lead America. “A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we’d like a dictator,’” Trump told the press Monday morning. The polls don't show that, either — but if Trump gets everything he wants, he won't need to care.
