Trump Fraudulently Photoshops Poll in Tweet
Donald Trump’s campaign can’t seem to get out of its own way on social media.
On Monday morning, Trump began heralding poll results from Iowa and the key swing state of Ohio. He mentioned the results at a rally and tweeted out nifty graphics on his account to share the numbers.
The only problem: he kept crediting an outlet that doesn’t commission such polls: FiveThirtyEight.
Trump credited Nate Silver’s electoral wizardry for showing he had a lead over Clinton of 46 percent to 43 percent in Ohio and a 44 percent to 41 percent lead in Iowa.
Trump pool report: "One thing I was just handed this, a new poll is just out, I believe its Nate Silver,Trump is leading 46-43 (APPLAUSE)."
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 5, 2016
Later, his campaign also tweeted out the poll results, again crediting FiveThirtyEight. Those tweets have since been deleted and retweeted — screenshots are below.
So Trump is now fraudulently using @FiveThirtyEight's logo to give credibility to random polls that show him ahead. pic.twitter.com/gKbpLYrCVH
— Zach Schneider (@schneidmaster) September 5, 2016
FiveThirtyEight didn’t commission the polls, as noted by Nate Silver and the site’s senior political writer and analyst Harry Enten. Both analysts pointed out that Trump was probably citing the results of the most recent Ipsos/Reuters poll of likely voters from those states.
Trump campaign is apparently citing a @FiveThirtyEight poll showing him ahead in Ohio. There isn't one—we don't do our own horse race polls.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) September 5, 2016
To be clear, @fivethirtyeight has not commissioned or sponsored a horserace poll in Ohio. That poll Trump tweeted is among many we aggregate
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) September 5, 2016
I believe Trump is referring to an Ipsos poll of Ohio—which we list and some other sites don't. Not our poll though. https://t.co/f1MUrlfitY
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) September 5, 2016
Indeed, a look at FiveThirtyEight’s current forecast shows Clinton with around a 60 percent chance of winning Ohio and Trump with just over a 50 percent chance of winning Iowa.
As for the Ipsos/Reuters poll of likely voters, however — it actually shows Clinton as the favorite to win the election in November.
Later, Trump sent out another tweet, appropriately citing the Ipsos/Reuters poll with attribution to FiveThirtyEight, thought not its forecast that Trump would lose if the election were held today.
Heading to Youngstown, Ohio now- some great polls. #AmericaFirst pic.twitter.com/cGwDLSOFUt
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2016
In July, the campaign found itself at the center of a much larger uproar when Trump tweeted a Photoshopped image of Hillary Clinton with anti-Semitic overtones. It was later deleted and replaced.
His son-in-law and political adviser, Jared Kushner, responded in the newspaper he owns, the New York Observer. “If my father in law’s fast-moving team was careless in choosing an image to retweet,” he wrote, “well part of the reason it’s so shocking is that it’s the actual candidate communicating with the American public rather than the armies of handlers who poll-test ordinary candidates’ every move.”
We’ll chalk it down as yet another reminder to be skeptical of what you see on the internet. And what you read in the polls — it’s still a long two months until Nov. 8.
(h/t Mashable)