One of Donald Trump’s closest allies sucked up to the president on national TV on Sunday, falsely claiming record approval numbers despite polling showing sinking support.
Rep. Byron Donalds made the unfounded claim on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo as he railed against the Democrats for being “more concerned about power here in the United States than making sure that the United States remained the number one economic and military power on the globe.”
“They don’t have any ideas, no policy about how they are going to improve the lives of the American people,” the Florida congressman said.
“This is why Donald Trump is riding high with all-time-high approval numbers from his time in public office because he is getting the job done and delivering for the American people.”
The congressman, who is running for Florida governor in the 2026 election, was parroting Trump’s claims from late July that his approval has soared “significantly.”
“They have hit 90%, 92%, 93%, and 95%, in various polls, and are all Republican Party records,” the president bragged on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed Aug. 18 found Trump’s approval rating at 40 percent, matching the lowest level of his current term. The figure was unchanged from late July, and had fallen 7 points from January, when it was 47 percent. The six-day poll surveyed 4,446 U.S. adults and carried a margin of error of about 2 percentage points.
The poll showed significant weaknesses among Hispanic voters, with only 32 percent approving of Trump’s performance, the lowest level this year. On issues, approval was mixed: 42 percent on crime and 43 percent on immigration. More than half of respondents—54 percent, including one in five Republicans—said Trump was too closely aligned with Russia during his attempts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump has frequently dismissed negative polling.
On April 28, he blasted polls from The New York Times, ABC News and The Washington Post on Truth Social, slamming them as “fake news organizations” publishing “fake polls” and even suggesting the publications should be investigated.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
