Donald Trump kicked off Saturday with a familiar kind of boast, taking to Truth Social early in the morning to declare that his standing with voters has never been better.
“I HAVE JUST GOTTEN THE HIGHEST POLL NUMBERS OF MY ‘POLITICAL CAREER,’” the president wrote.
He didn’t specify which surveys he meant, and the claim clashes with several recent snapshots of public opinion. Multiple polls conducted in November show Trump’s approval rating at its weakest point since the beginning of his second term. An Ipsos/Reuters poll places him at -22, while an AP-NORC poll puts him at -26. RealClearPolling’s average shows his best result coming from the right-leaning Rasmussen Reports, where he sits at -4.
The downturn has become fodder for late-night television, too. ABC host Jimmy Kimmel highlighted Trump’s numbers during his opening monologue on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Thursday. Responding to a Truth Social post in which Trump called him a “bum” with “VERY POOR TELEVISION RATINGS,” Kimmel quipped, “If anyone knows about bad ratings, it’s this guy,” before rolling a montage of anchors discussing Trump’s dip in approval.
Kimmel also joked that Trump must be watching the show in real time, pointing to the timing of Trump’s post.
“12:49 a.m., 11 minutes after the show ended on the East Coast,” Kimmel said. “Which is nice. He watches us live. Hi, Mr. President.” He added a playful thanks: “Thanks for watching us on TV instead of on YouTube… It’s viewers like you who keep us on the air.”
Even as he insisted he was hitting personal highs, Trump acknowledged trouble on one key front: the economy.
“While my great work on the Economy has not yet been fully appreciated, it will be! Things are really Rockin’,” he wrote. “Stopping WARS and Foreign Relations seems to be a strong suit. Also great, The Border and Stopping Crime. I predict that the Economy, with the already HIGHEST STOCK MARKET, EVER, and prices coming sharply down from the Biden disaster, will soon be at the top of the list.”
But economic sentiment appears to be a drag on his overall numbers. CNN data analyst Harry Enten reports that Trump is at -34 on inflation, a steep 37-point drop from the +3 rating he held at the start of his second term.
Inflation and everyday costs have remained politically explosive since Republicans took heavy losses in the November 2025 elections, as Democrats centered their campaigns on affordability. And while Trump has repeatedly said prices are tumbling, PolitiFact notes that the picture is mixed: some items, such as eggs and gasoline, have declined, but overall grocery prices continue to climb.
On other issues, Trump is performing relatively better. RealClearPolling’s aggregates show him at -9.6 on foreign policy, -3.7 on immigration, and roughly even on crime — areas he pointed to in his post as strengths.
