Donald Trump’s claim to have approval ratings no other president in history has ever bested went up in smoke after CNN anchor Jake Tapper brought receipts.
“I’m at, according to CNN, 100 percent approval within the Republican Party,” the president told reporters Tuesday.
“I’m at 100 percent approval. Did you see the CNN poll?” he went on. “Nobody talks about it, CNN. I think the people that did that poll probably got fired. But within the Republican Party and MAGA, which is basically 100 percent of the party I think, but 100 percent.”
A lack of discussion on those numbers likely owes to the fact they do not actually exist, as Tapper swiftly pointed out in an X post responding to the president’s comments.
“Nope,” the CNN mainstay wrote, attaching a link to the story to which he believes the president was referring. It shows Trump’s support among Republicans plummeted from 90 to 80 percent between March 2025 and March 2026, with “strong support” dropping 64 percent to a miserable 43 percent.
The bad news for Trump doesn’t end there. Just 41 percent of poll respondents approved of his performance on immigration, 36 percent on foreign affairs, and 31 percent on the economy—all issues that otherwise formed the heart of the president’s campaign for the White House in 2024.
His overall approval ratings stand at just 39 percent, at a level relatively unchanged over the past several months and comparable to where they stood after the Jan. 6 riots at the end of his first term.
Those figures come ahead of what promises to be a bruising battle for the GOP to retain control of the House and Senate come November’s midterm elections. White House lawyers are already prepping administration staff on how to navigate a Democratic-controlled Congress.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.
A Pew Research survey released last week showed Trump’s standing has eroded across nearly every demographic and personal trait since January, with even Republican approval slipping.
CNBC’s All-America Economic Survey put his net approval at -18, the lowest measured across either of his terms, with respondents pointing to the war with Iran, surging gas prices, and souring views of the economy.
Silver Bulletin’s polling average has him at a second-term low of -18.8, while CNN’s analysts note his 35 percent in their Poll of Polls puts him in territory no president since George W. Bush has occupied for any sustained stretch.
