Donald Trump has claimed he is more popular than ever even after his Republican Party took a beating at the midterms earlier this month.
The US president was humiliated when voters resoundingly rejected his candidates for both chambers in Congress, choosing instead to give the Democrats a majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
But the US president insisted on the Salem News Channel that he was still a popular figure.
“This midterm was lousy, but it wasn’t as bad as others, as you know,” he said.
Democratic presidents Harry Truman, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama all lost 50 or more seats during their midterm elections.
But this midterm was the worst defeat for the Republican Party in 50 years, as voters pushed back over high prices caused by the Iran war.
“There were a few others that, actually in a couple of cases, were much worse,” Trump said. “I was very surprised. I’m not used to that. Every time I ran, we won.
“When I didn’t run, it seems to be difficult, it’s sort of interesting.
“I got a million and a half more votes in Texas, than the candidate in Texas, than the Senate candidate in Texas, that’s a lot of votes.”
Trump did win Texas by a margin of more than 1.5 million votes in 2024.
But in the midterms, the Democrats’ candidate for the Senate, James Talarico, secured more votes (5.4 million) than any other candidate on the Texas ballot.
Even so, Trump claimed: “I think my level of popularity maybe is higher than it was, I’m not sure, but it feels to me that it would be higher. Other than what happened in the midterms.”
According to The Economist, Trump’s net approval rating in the US is -30 as of November 9 – a record low across both of the president’s terms and much lower than any number from Joe Biden’s time in office.
The current score is also a three point drop compared to October 13, prior to the midterm elections.
Trump’s net approval rating has been in steady decline throughout his second term in office.
When sworn in as the US president on January 20, his net rating was at +4, meaning he’s dropped a total of 34 points in less than two years – destroying the president’s claims to be a winner.
But he remains optimistic. He told Stephen A’s Straight Shooter: “[CNN] compared myself, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, and Lincoln was at 8%, Reagan was at 14%, and I was at 56% or something like that. So I think my approval rating is good.”
It’s worth noting that poll from August only surveyed Republicans, 53% of whom listed Trump as the Republican president they admire the most.
Naturally, people on the internet were less than impressed by his claims, branding him “delusional”.
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