On Tuesday, President Trump unloaded on a new ABC News/Washington Post poll showing him losing to all five leading Democratic presidential candidates in 2020. Following the dual congressional victories of Republicans in North Carolina, including one that Democrats increasingly believed they could flip, Trump pointed again to the “fake poll” as more evidence that the media is trying to manipulate the public to thwart his reelection.
In its report on the new survey, The Washington Post sets the scene by noting Trump’s chronic polling problems. “President Trump overcame formidable odds and discouraging poll numbers to win the White House in 2016. More than a year out from the 2020 election, it appears he might have to repeat that performance to win a second term, according to a Washington Post-ABC News survey,” the Post reports.
Against the top five Democratic candidates, the new poll found Trump losing to all of them — and by a dramatic margin to the frontrunner. The poll found Trump trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in a hypothetical head-to-head by 15 points, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) by 9, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) by 7, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) by 7, and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg by 4.
The poll also found Trump’s approval numbers looking grim. “Among all adults, whether registered to vote or not, the president never tops 41 percent support,” the Post reports. “Among registered voters, he does better, but his highest level of support against any candidate is 44 percent. In 2016, he won 46 percent of the popular vote to Hillary Clinton’s 48 percent, but nonetheless won an electoral college majority by narrowly winning three northern states that had gone to the Democrats in the previous six elections.”
Trump responded to the new results by blasting the poll as “the worst and most inaccurate” of the 2016 polls. “ABC/Washington Post Poll was the worst and most inaccurate poll of any taken prior to the 2016 Election. When my lawyers protested, they took a 12 point down and brought it to almost even by Election Day. It was a Fake Poll by two very bad and dangerous media outlets. Sad!” Trump wrote in a pair of tweets early Tuesday. “One of the greatest and most powerful weapons used by the Fake and Corrupt News Media is the phony Polling Information they put out. Many of these polls are fixed, or worked in such a way that a certain candidate will look good or bad. Internal polling looks great, the best ever!”
After Republicans won both congressional seats in North Carolina’s special election Tuesday, Trump returned to criticizing the poll, pointing to the outcome as evidence that he’s right about the “phony suppression poll.”
“In a hypothetical poll, done by one of the worst pollsters of them all, the Amazon Washington Post/ABC, which predicted I would lose to Crooked Hillary by 15 points (how did that work out?), Sleepy Joe, Pocahontas and virtually all others would beat me in the General Election,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. “This is a phony suppression poll, meant to build up their Democrat partners. I haven’t even started campaigning yet, and am constantly fighting Fake News like Russia, Russia, Russia. Look at North Carolina last night. Dan Bishop, down big in the Polls, WINS. Easier than 2016!”
“If it weren’t for the never ending Fake News about me, and with all that I have done (more than any other President in the first 2 1/2 years!), I would be leading the ‘Partners’ of the LameStream Media by 20 points. Sorry, but true!” he added.
Related: Trump Passes ‘Test’ In North Carolina: Republicans Win Both Congressional Seats