Citation Needed, Mr. President

By Rafi Schwartz, Splinter

10 September 19

resh off of screaming about jobs in another characteristically unhinged White House video, President Donald Trump kicked off his Monday morning by doubling down on employment news—specifically, his own—insisting he had reached “record” approval ratings among Republicans.

There’s just one problem: As far as anyone could tell, Trump is both totally incorrect and almost certainly making the whole thing up.

Let’s do this in order, shall we?

First, that 94 percent claim. Where did the president come up with this number? As The Washington Post noted the last time Trump bragged about this impressive-sounding stat back in June, it seems to have appeared out of thin air—or, charitably speaking, it could be polling that’s not public. Trump previously touted a straw poll among attendees at the annual CPAC conference back in 2018, which saw the president’s approval at 93 percent among his most hardcore supporters. Could he have added an extra point on this extremely unscientific popularity rating and then recycled it hoping that no one would notice the difference? Entirely possible!

This isn’t to say that Trump isn’t popular within the GOP. According to Gallup’s presidential approval ratings, Trump has held steady at 88 percent approval among Republicans for the past month and a half. Impressive stats to be sure, but still solidly below that supposed 94 percent of which Trump is so fond.

As for that claim that the already dubious 94 percent is “a record,” well, that one’s even easier to dissect. In a thorough debunking of Trump’s penchant for self-aggrandizement, Politifact pointed out that George W. Bush enjoyed a staggering 96 percent approval from his own party, while President Eisenhower topped off at 92 percent, without even having to cite potentially made-up polls.

Anyway, have a terrific day Mr. President. You’re off to a great start already!