Trump serves up fantasyland cope as brutal reality bites on his popularity

US President Donald Trump gestures at a midterm election campaign rally for incumbent US Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) at an arena in Corinth, Mississippi, US, October 26, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

President Donald Trump offered a fantastical account of his popularity Thursday, claiming almost unanimous support from Republicans even as a series of national surveys showed a substantially less flattering picture.

In a Truth Social post Thursday, Trump offered a delusional brag about his rally crowd size and cited a non-existent poll, which supposedly has him at 99 percent among Republican voters.

“We are drawing the BIGGEST CROWDS at Trump Rallies in the history of Midterm Elections, by a factor of five times. There has never been anything like it! My Approval Rating in the Republican Party is now at 99 percent. Thank you, such an honor!!!”

The boast flies in the face of numerous reports of empty seats at many of his rallies and polls that tell a different story of his plummeting popularity.

Trump repeated the approval rating claim to reporters on the way to campaign for Darline Graham in South Carolina but conveniently did not cite the poll he was referring to.

An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos survey put his approval among Republican voters at 83 percent, while Fox News found 76 percent and Marquette Law School reported 75 percent.

While the president still enjoys majority support among GOP voters, it's a far cry from his boast.

Per Mediaite, Trump may have gotten his number from CNN data analyst Harry Enten, who previously reported that 99 percent of MAGA Republicans voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election and that, in September, 98 percent approved.

The keyword in the statistics is “MAGA” Republicans, which is not interchangeable with the GOP voting base as a whole. The 99 percent also refers to how people voted in 2024, rather than how they currently rate his performance in office.

The distinction is especially important considering a growing number of Republicans no longer associated with Trump’s signature slogan. A University of Massachusetts poll found the number of Republicans who identify with MAGA dropped from 77 percent to 68 percent in August.

Trump is also experiencing the lowest approval ratings of his political career, with his unpopular Iran war, the higher cost of living, and tariffs all taking their toll. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in September had his approval rating at 32 percent, fuelled by a decline in Republican support.

A separate New York Times/Siena College survey released this week recorded an approval rating of 34 percent, which puts him at the lowest measured for a president near a midterm election since Harry Truman in 1946.

Trump has also denied the reality of polling figures throughout his political career. However, the difference is now that the support among his base is crumbling, and it appears to be more of a coping mechanism as his popularity fades and the end of his presidency nears.

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