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MaddowBlog-Ahead of his State of the Union address, Trump's woeful approval rating 'amazes' him
At a White House event, the president, expressing a sentiment he rarely shares, said, “It just amazes me that there’s not more support out there.”
Usually, when Trump confronts another round of dreadful poll numbers, he makes up a generous approval rating for himself, peddles a few conspiracy theories, and asks everyone to just play along for the sake of his ego.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-24T20:58:49.122Z
Once in a great while, however, the masks slips.
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/state-of-the-union-trump-approval-rating-polling
On Monday, however, Trump did something quite different: He briefly acknowledged — and expressed public disappointment about — his deteriorating standing.
.....But on Monday, the mask slipped, and the president implicitly acknowledged the truth, though it was packaged in incredulity: Trump, who has long marveled at how awesome he considers his awesomeness, may not understand why he’s so unpopular, but he’s at least somewhat aware of the fact that he is unpopular.
That said, the candor was short-lived. Indeed, during the same White House event, the president claimed that he has “silent support” that independent surveys are overlooking, for reasons he did not explain, before adding, “I saw one [poll] today that I’m at 40%. I’m not at 40%. I’m at much higher than that.”
As it happens, even 40% was a bit of an exaggeration, with a growing number of national surveys consistently showing his support below that threshold. The latest Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, for example, shows Trump’s approval rating slipping to 39%. That was followed by a CNN poll that found him sinking to 36% support.....
In a way, that’s true. If Trump and his team are comfortable with the idea that Americans put him back in power, that the president can’t run again and that polls reflecting public attitudes are therefore no longer relevant, they are welcome to embrace that attitude.
But a whole lot of midterm elections are scheduled for the fall, and I have a hunch congressional Republicans are far more interested in 2026 polls than 2024 election results.
Trump alludes to his bad polls: "It just amazes me that there is not more support out there. We actually have a silent support."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-23T15:44:53.547Z
.....But on Monday, the mask slipped, and the president implicitly acknowledged the truth, though it was packaged in incredulity: Trump, who has long marveled at how awesome he considers his awesomeness, may not understand why he’s so unpopular, but he’s at least somewhat aware of the fact that he is unpopular.
That said, the candor was short-lived. Indeed, during the same White House event, the president claimed that he has “silent support” that independent surveys are overlooking, for reasons he did not explain, before adding, “I saw one [poll] today that I’m at 40%. I’m not at 40%. I’m at much higher than that.”
As it happens, even 40% was a bit of an exaggeration, with a growing number of national surveys consistently showing his support below that threshold. The latest Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, for example, shows Trump’s approval rating slipping to 39%. That was followed by a CNN poll that found him sinking to 36% support.....
In a way, that’s true. If Trump and his team are comfortable with the idea that Americans put him back in power, that the president can’t run again and that polls reflecting public attitudes are therefore no longer relevant, they are welcome to embrace that attitude.
But a whole lot of midterm elections are scheduled for the fall, and I have a hunch congressional Republicans are far more interested in 2026 polls than 2024 election results.