President Donald Trump has been down in the polls for nearly his entire second term. The RealClearPolitics average currently puts Trump at -16.8, with every single poll included putting Trump’s approval rating underwater. Beyond that, the average has kept Trump in negative territory since a few weeks after he returned to the White House.
Now, however, Trump is angry about the polls, which he calls “fake,” and is threatening to send the FCC after them.
“THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE!” Trump said on Truth Social Sunday.
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Beyond Trump threatening to send a government agency after pollsters, the threat is wrong for another reason: The majority of pollsters do not have anything to to do with television and radio, and are therefore not in the regulatory purview of the FCC.
The same day, Trump threatened to “report” NBC News’ Meet the Press host Kristen Welker to the FCC for “punishment,” which, once again, is not a process that exists. Welker spoke of the “mixed results” of Trump’s primary endorsements.
“How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves? Results are attached. Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Welker’s statement on the air is clearly First Amendment-protected speech, and not something that a government agency can punish. Also, it’s not untrue.
While the majority of Trump-endorsed candidates won their primaries this year, the president’s picks suffered “multiple notable setbacks, including his endorsement of retiring scandal-plagued Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.), Amir Hassan in Michigan, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), Randy Feenstra in Iowa, Burt Jones in Georgia, Mike Lindell in Minnesota,” the New York Post reported.
Trump has gone after pollsters before, including his lawsuit against Ann Selzer, the famed Iowa pollster who released a poll, shortly before the 2024 election, that had Kamala Harris leading in Iowa. After the poll was wrong — followed by Selzer announcing her retirement from polling — Trump sued her. The lawsuit was dropped in federal court but later refiled in state court.
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
