Trump Falsely Claims His Approval Rating is Better Than Obama’s at This Point in Presidency
President Donald Trump gave himself a pat on the back for his approval ratings on Saturday, prompting reporters to call out his misleading claim that he had outdone his predecessor Barack Obamain the polls.
Trump made the assertions in a tweet Sunday, stating, “Presidential Approval numbers are very good – strong economy, military and just about everything else. Better numbers than Obama at this point, by far.”
Presidential Approval numbers are very good – strong economy, military and just about everything else. Better numbers than Obama at this point, by far. We are winning on just about every front and for that reason there will not be a Blue Wave, but there might be a Red Wave!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
However, CNN’s Ryan Lizza called Trump’s bluff, using Gallup data to back him up.
Not true, of course, at least in terms of the approval numbers https://t.co/sxfizjCucz pic.twitter.com/Bi7FIER6JK
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) August 5, 2018
Lizza was joined by Toronto Star Washington correspondent Daniel Dale, who went as far as labeling the president’s claim a total lie, pointing to polling numbers from RealClearPolitics as evidence.
This is a lie. Obama's net approval number was more than 4 points better than Trump's on this day in their presidencies, per RealClearPolitics polling averages – Obama was at negative-5.2, Trump is at negative-9.5. pic.twitter.com/BNV776v8Hy
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 5, 2018
CNN’s Brian Stelter also pointed out that while Trump may be praising poll numbers on Sunday, just last night “He claimed that polls are used for vote ‘suppression’ purposes.”
🤷♂️ Last night Trump sowed doubt about polls. He claimed that polls are used for vote "suppression" purposes. 🤷♂️ https://t.co/MpLUU889v9
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 5, 2018
[Mediaite]