Once again, there's evidence suggesting traditional polls aren't accurately measuring support for the president and his policies.
Just how popular is Donald Trump? Two weeks into the new president’s term, it’s a matter of some dispute.
Traditional phone polls that use live interviewers — including some of the most trusted polls in politics and media — report limited support for Trump and the controversial executive orders he’s signed. But automated phone and Internet-based surveys tell a different story. Once the element of anonymity is added, the president’s approval ratings suddenly look a lot better.
It’s reigniting the campaign debate over whether pollsters are accurately measuring Trump’s popularity — or the breadth of support for his policies. The White House is already seizing on the issue, and forcefully pushing back against the early narrative that the president is suffering from historically bad polling numbers.
In referring to an automated poll that put the president’s popularity in the black, Spicer actually understated Trump’s level of support. According to Rasmussen Reports’ most recent survey released Friday, 54 percent of likely voters approved of the president’s job performance.
The debate is a flashback to last fall’s election — in which Trump ran ahead of his poll numbers, particularly in the Upper Midwest states that propelled him to victory. And just like during the campaign season, there’s evidence suggesting that Americans may be less willing to admit they support the president and his actions if they are talking to another person on the phone, compared to polls completed with the anonymity of the internet or an automated phone interface.
“I think you’re getting two things,” said John McLaughlin, a Republican pollster who worked for Trump during the campaign. “One, the online surveys, people are more likely to put in an honest answer because they’re not speaking to a human being.”
