As his approval ratings slide into the low 40s and high 30s, Trump is confronting something he has always tried to outrun: the possibility that his political brand is no longer bulletproof. The numbers from AP-NORC, The New York Times/Siena, and others don’t just show discontent with his handling of the economy, immigration, and foreign policy; they reveal a country increasingly exhausted by permanent crisis. Yet Trump refuses to treat these polls as a warning sign. Instead, he casts them as part of a long-running plot against him.
His Truth Social broadside — calling “Fake and Fraudulent Polling” virtually a criminal offense and again insisting he “won in a Landslide” in 2020 — isn’t just about statistics. It’s about control. By attacking the legitimacy of polling itself, he rallies his base, pressures Republican allies, and deepens mistrust in institutions. Whether this strategy protects him in the midterms or accelerates his isolation now depends on how many Americans still believe the system is rigged against him, and how many have simply stopped listening.
