Trump disputes approval ratings, claims 60% figure
President Donald Trump has rejected current poll numbers, stating his approval rating is higher.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
The RealClearPolitics average of polls includes data from over a dozen reputable outlets.
Photograph: HuffPost (embedded from source)
What this story says
- President Donald Trump stated his job approval rating is 60%, a figure he believes he could achieve if needed.
- He dismissed current poll numbers as 'fake', including a RealClearPolitics average showing his approval at 38.8%.
- A Fox News poll indicated Trump's approval rating at 36%.
- The RealClearPolitics average aggregates data from over a dozen polling organisations.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 6 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. Coverage measured .
Trust
50/100
Craft
60/100
Hype
41/100
6 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 6 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
President Donald Trump has contested his job approval ratings, calling them 'fake'. During an interview with The Washington Examiner, Trump dismissed a RealClearPolitics poll average that placed his approval at 38.8%. He stated, 'I don’t believe I could be beaten by anybody' and suggested his own approval rating would be '60' if he needed it.
The RealClearPolitics average incorporates data from more than a dozen outlets, including Rasmussen Reports, Economist/YouGov, Reuters/Ipsos, and Fox News. This average shows Trump's net disapproval rating at 60.4%. A separate Fox News poll reported Trump's overall job approval rating at 36%.
Disagreement on poll validity
Trump described the approval poll numbers as 'fake'. He reportedly based this argument, in part, on the earlier inclusion of data from Wedgewood Polls by The New York Times, a company that had admitted to using fabricated numbers. However, the Times had noted it did not use Wedgewood for its own approval metrics.
What the coverage left out
None of the reports printed below mention the specific details of the RealClearPolitics average's composition beyond stating it includes data from over a dozen outlets. The full reports from HuffPost and The Record do not detail the methodology or specific polls that constitute the RealClearPolitics average.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 24 Oct 2026, 19:30, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
Trump disputes approval ratings, claims 60% figure
The Record — embedded from source
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
4 rated outlets
- Reports from HuffPost, The Independent, The Independent (US), and Mediaite focused on Trump's claim of a 60% approval rating and his dismissal of existing polls. HuffPost highlighted Trump's statement, 'I think 60,' as his own number, contrasting it with the 38.8% shown in the RealClearPolitics average. The Independent and The Independent (US) used headlines stating Trump dismisses polls and insists his rating is 60%. Mediaite also reported Trump's insistence on a 60% approval rating and his statement, 'I don’t believe I could be beaten by anybody,' while noting the sinking polling numbers.
Centre
2 rated outlets
- The centre-rated reports from The Record and Political Wire also centred on Trump's claim of a 60% approval rating and his rejection of current polls. The Record, in a piece by Byron York, detailed Trump's job approval crisis, noting the 38.8% approval versus 60.1% disapproval in the RealClearPolitics average and a 36% approval in a Fox News poll. Political Wire reported Trump's claim that his job approval is 60%, citing Mediaite and Trump's statement about not believing he could be beaten, while also noting his approval was at 35% according to The Polling Dashboard.
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Trump disputes approval ratings, claims 60% figure?
- Of the 6 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 67% are rated left, 33% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Trump disputes approval ratings, claims 60% figure left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 6 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Trump disputes approval ratings, claims 60% figure biased?
- Trump disputes approval ratings, claims 60% figure is one event reported by 6 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Trump disputes approval ratings, claims 60% figure?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Trump disputes approval ratings, claims 60% figure?
- 6 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What job approval rating did Donald Trump claim for himself?
- President Donald Trump stated that his job approval rating is 60%. He suggested this figure would be his rating if he needed it, indicating he believes he is more popular than current polls suggest.
- What do current polls show about Donald Trump's approval rating?
- Current polls show Donald Trump's approval rating significantly lower than the figure he claims. A RealClearPolitics average puts his approval at 38.8%, and a Fox News poll shows it at 36%.
- How did Donald Trump respond to the poll numbers?
- Donald Trump dismissed the current approval poll numbers as 'fake'. He reportedly based this assertion partly on past issues with specific polling companies, even though those companies were not necessarily used in the averages he cited.
Read it at the source
6 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
4- Trump Comes Up With His Own Approval Rating: 'I Think 60' (opens HuffPost in a new tab)
- Trump dismisses polls, insists his approval rating is 60% (opens The Independent (US) in a new tab)
The Independent (US) — is The Independent (US) biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Trump dismisses polls, insists his approval rating is 60% (opens The Independent in a new tab)
The Independent — is The Independent biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Trump Insists His Job Approval Is Somehow Actually 60% Amid Sinking Polling: ‘I Don’t Believe I Could Be Beaten By Anybody’ (opens Mediaite in a new tab)
Centre
2Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
