President Donald Trump dismissed polls showing his job approval ratings hitting record lows, writing in a Truth Social post Monday that “My REAL Polling Numbers, not those made up by the Fake News Media, are the best they have ever been.” Trump did not criticize a specific recent poll or cite polling that shows him more popular.
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Trump’s complaints come after his approval ratings dipped to match record lows or fell to new low points in polls from Quinnipiac University (32 percent), CNN (34 percent) and the Economist-YouGov (also 34 percent). While Trump fared better in other polls, national averages show him between 36 and 40 percent approval, down about one percentage point in recent weeks to match or set new record lows.
The CNN poll found 28 percent approved of his handling of Iran, down five points from March. A 74 percent majority said they think Trump doesn’t have a clear plan to handle the war, up seven points from March.
Trump wrote “don’t believe the Radical Left’s Fake Poll numbers,” but he has long followed public opinion polls, highlighting such findings he likes and dismissing those he dislikes. His moves over the weekend appeared aimed at winding down a war that polls show Americans increasingly oppose.
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On Saturday night, Trump said that the United States had canceled strikes against Iran and that “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to,” later saying that negotiations to end the war would begin Monday afternoon. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman rejected the claim that negotiations would resume Monday, although The Washington Post reported that regional mediators were passing messages between the U.S. and Iran.
Trump’s military pullback over the weekend comes about four weeks after a previous ceasefire collapsed. With oil shipments disrupted, gas prices were up 32 cents to over $4 a gallon last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
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