Trump gets confronted with his troubling poll numbers: ‘Never been lower’
President Donald Trump is hitting back as recent polls show his approval rating and performance on key issues slipping ahead of the midterm elections .
Trump, in an interview with Time magazine released Thursday, hit back with a sharp response after he was told that his "polls have never been lower."
"They're fake numbers," Trump said. "I would beat anybody running today by 20 points. Your numbers that you have are fake. The pollsters are corrupt. They're almost as corrupt as the writers."
When asked if the president's internal pollsters had similar findings, Trump replied: "No."
"I heard John McLaughlin told me they are much higher than the numbers," the president said of one of his key pollsters. "I don't ask him. I'm not running, but they said John McLaughlin is a good pollster. See, I'm doing very well. I think I am."
Trump went on to tout the state of the economy and the increase in the number of manufacturing jobs, asking the Time reporters if they have "any idea what's going on."
"Do you know how many factories were built?" Trump said. "And I'm not talking [artificial intelligence]. I'm talking about car factories, Pfizer, Merck, Lilly. They're all coming back. You know why? They're like me, but you know why they're coming back? Because they don't want to pay tariffs."
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research , also out Thursday, found that Trump's approval rating has dipped to 31%, while 69% of Americans disapprove of his job performance.
Just 17% of U.S. adults approve of the president's handling of the cost of living, and only 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low, according to the survey.
Another 65% of U.S. adults, making up a majority, now blame Trump's policies for higher costs rather than factors outside of his control, the poll showed.
A Quinnipiac University poll from Tuesday revealed that Trump has a 34% approval rating and a 61% disapproval rating. His disapproval rating matches his all-time disapproval rating reached in January 2021.
And a survey from The Wall Street Journal last week found that Trump's approval rating had fallen to 37%, the lowest for any president heading into midterm elections in polls from the outlet dating to 1990.
The latest findings come as Trump has repeatedly urged GOP voters to pretend he is on the ballot in November.
"If I campaign…you don't give me enough credit," Trump told the magazine. "When I campaign, I give people a lot."
Trump sat down for the wide-ranging interview with the magazine at the White House on Sept. 28, during which he also discussed the Iran war, the Federal Reserve, the Supreme Court and his outlook on the midterms.
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