PoliticusUSA

Donald Trump claimed on Monday that he has a higher approval rating than Barack Obama had at this point in his presidency. The President is relying on a friendly pollster.

Trump pointed to numbers from Rasmussen – a favorite pollster of his that typically skews to the right and has been widely criticized by other prominent polling organizations.

“96% Approval Rating in the Republican Party. 50% in new Rasmussen Poll (higher than Obama at this point in time). Thank you!” he tweeted.

The approval rating he cites among Republicans is unrelated to any actual polling but it’s a claim Trump has made over and over again, winning mockery on social media.

Though the Rasmussen daily tracking poll does show President Trump’s approval rating at 50%, this is an outlier. Polling site FiveThirtyEight shows his approval averaging at 41.2%.

This is significantly lower than former President Obama’s approval rating for the week of 30 July to 5 August 2012 – at the same stage during his reelection year.

Obama enjoyed a 45% approval rating at this point in his administration. Though this may not have been his highest ever rating, it is almost 4 points higher than Trump’s.

Trump also bragged about the size of his crowds in deep red Texas.

“My visits last week to Texas and Frorida [sic] had massive numbers of cheering people gathered along the roads and highways, thousands and thousands, even bigger (by far) than the crowds of 2016,” he tweeted.

“Saw no Biden supporters, and yet some in the Fake News said it was an equal number. Sad!”

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Darragh Roche

Darragh Roche is a journalist covering U.S. politics and media