April 15, 2018

Donald Trump Really Wants You to Know How Well He’s Doing in One Specific Poll

Congratulations?

Susan Walsh/AP

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Donald Trump isn’t a very popular president. According to the FiveThirtyEight polling average, his approval rating is currently around 41 percent. That’s about 7 points below where Barack Obama was at this stage of his presidency.

But Trump isn’t interested in polling averages. On Sunday morning—on the tail end of a truly unhinged Twitter tirade against James Comey—the president trumpeted his standing in one specific poll.

Obviously, there’s nothing particularly unusual about a politician cherry-picking data to make himself look better. But what is striking is just how often Trump has celebrated his standing in the Rasmussen survey—a poll that has tended to give him higher approval ratings than most other public polls have. Here’s Trump earlier this month:

And here he is last month:

And in February:

And last June:

Congratulations, Mr. President!

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

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