Fox News released a new poll on Wednesday that shows that President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to a new low, with only 44% approving and 55% disapproving. But apparently the right-ring network doesn’t want its viewers to know the bad news.
Compared to other presidents in the same poll, Trump’s numbers are anemic. At this point in their presidencies, Joe Biden had 54% approval, Barack Obama had 62%, and George W. Bush had 63%.
But during Thursday morning’s broadcast of “Fox & Friends,” which has often been described as Trump’s favorite show on the network, the bad news was hidden.
The broadcast highlighted Trump’s approval on the issue of border security—one of the few areas where he’s doing well—instead of showing the audience Trump’s overwhelmingly weak support elsewhere.
“Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade raved that “55% are pleased with what he’s doing at the border, I mean it’s historic, nobody can argue with that.”
Kilmeade then argued that Trump’s approval was “strong at 44%,” though he admitted it was “behind where Joe Biden was.” The network never aired a graphic showing the overall approval.
As if to prove that the misleading graphic wasn’t a one-off, co-host Ainsley Earhardt told viewers that “most Americans agree with him, this is why he was elected.”
Online Fox presented a similarly misleading narrative, with its report on the poll headlined, “Fox News Poll: The first 100 days of President Trump’s second term.”
While the report notes Trump’s low 44% approval rating, the headline dismisses this news.
The contrast is particularly jarring when compared to Fox’s March 19 report on its polling, which was headlined“Fox News Poll: Trump, Republicans at record-high ratings as Democrats falter.”
When news was good for Trump—his approval was at 51%—it was apparently worth highlighting.
Despite its efforts, Fox’s spin on the news didn’t please Trump, who complained on Truth Social that Fox owner Rupert Murdoch had assured him the pollster for the network would be fired.
“Rupert Murdoch has told me for years that he is going to get rid of his FoxNews, Trump Hating, Fake Pollster, but he has never done so,” he wrote.
Hiding Trump’s embarrassing approval rating didn’t work, and thanks to Trump’s tantrum, millions more now know that even by Fox’s metrics Trump is wildly unpopular.
Oh, well. They tried.
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