WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is pointing to a 50 percent job approval rating that may not fully comport with reality.
TRUMP: “Thank you to Rasmussen for the honest polling. Just hit 50%, which is higher than Cheatin’ Obama at the same time in his Administration.” — tweet Tuesday.
THE FACTS: Trump cites an approval rating that doesn’t jibe with reputable polls.
The daily tracking poll from Rasmussen Reports released Monday finds half of likely voters said they approve of Trump’s performance in office. That’s 4 points higher than what President Barack Obama scored on the same poll on April 2, 2010.
But Rasmussen stands alone among frequent pollsters in finding such a high rating for Trump, and its findings are often seen as less reliable because of the automated calling method it uses. It’s against federal law to have computers dial cellphones, so a big chunk of U.S. adults who don’t have landline phones — many of them young people — cannot be represented in the survey.
In contrast, a Gallup poll finds that based on a weekly average, Trump had an approval rating of 39 percent as of Sunday. That figure is lower than Obama’s rating of 49 percent during the comparable time period, according to Gallup.
A new poll last week by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found Trump’s approval rate to be 42 percent, in the ballpark of Gallup’s.
Neither the AP nor Gallup uses automated phone calls to tally its results.
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EDITOR’S NOTE _ A look at the veracity of claims by political figures
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