President Donald Trump’s claim that his approval rating is really about 60% has drawn alarm, including from some notable conservatives.
Trump made the claim in an interview with Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York aboard Air Force One. Polls show his approval in the high 30s. The RealClearPolitics average puts it at 38.8%.
“It’s fake,” Trump said of the numbers. “The job approval, they said it’s 37, 38? I’m not at 38.”
Asked where it really stood, Trump said: “I don’t believe I could be beaten by anybody. I think that if I needed it, which I don’t, I think 60.” When York asked if he meant he’d be at 60 if he were on the ballot himself, Trump said, “Yeah, I think I’d be in the 60s now.”
York posted the exchange on X, and it spread fast.
“Perhaps the greatest evidence of cognitive decline: Trump thinks his approval is actually at 60,” wrote Jessica Tarlov, a Democratic co-host of Fox News’ “The Five.”
Some of the sharpest reactions came from the right.
“Very problematic if the President actually believes his job approval is at 60 percent,” wrote Henry Olsen, a conservative senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Republican pollster Scott Rasmussen, founder of Rasmussen Reports, had a three-word reaction: “Wow, just wow.”
Pradheep J. Shanker, a physician and conservative commentator, was blunter.
“He probably think he looks like a thirty year old too,” Shanker wrote. “Delusional people are delusional.”
HuffPost senior White House correspondent S.V. Dáte agreed: “He is delusional.”
CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter said the comment explained a lot.
“Trump believing he has a 60% approval rating explains a lot about his behavior,” Stelter wrote.
Justin Baragona, a media reporter, noticed that Trump seemed to be holding back.
“You can also tell he thinks he’s undercutting it by saying his approval is at 60 percent,” Baragona wrote.
Jim Stewartson, an anti-disinformation activist, said Trump’s habit of inflating numbers has gotten worse.
“He lives in a sealed alternate reality — ‘the hottest country in the world’ — and expects the rest of us to live in it with him,” Stewartson wrote.
Progressive commentator Kyle Kulinski, host of “Secular Talk,” said the answer points to a darker scenario after Election Day.
“He is 100% going to try to steal this election after an historic blue tsunami,” Kulinski wrote. “This country is in for a very very rough stretch.”
Mike McFeely, a columnist for the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, summed it up: “This is the funniest thing you’ll read today.”
In his column, York wrote that Trump “sometimes views his Republican base as if it is the electorate as a whole,” which is why a 38.8% approval rating “just doesn’t make any sense” to him.