As media touts Biden’s recent polling success, Trump points to TV ratings as ‘the real polls’

The mainstream media has had a field day since national polls started to show President Donald Trump slipping to presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden. But it seems the president himself isn’t worried about it.

The Hill reported Saturday that Trump is dismissing dismal national polling as “fake news” and instead pointing to another metric as “the real polls” — namely, TV ratings.

“We will win”

In a pair of tweets Saturday morning, President Trump urged his followers to ignore the “fake” media polls, The Hill reported, saying the “real polls” come from “the silent majority.”

Trump also said his recent comeback campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma “had the highest Saturday television ratings in [Fox News] history,” and that a Thursday town hall hosted by Fox’s Sean Hannity “dominated” television.

Take a look:

….We will win the Election against Corrupt Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Schumer. We will save the Supreme Court, your 2nd Amendment, permanent damage from the ridiculous Green New Deal, and you from massive Tax Hikes. Also, our Heritage, History and LAW & ORDER!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2020

Checking the facts

Trump’s claim about the success of his town hall with Hannity was confirmed by Fox itself in an article published Friday, as The Hill noted. According to Fox, the interview drew more viewers than all of its competitors across broadcast and cable TV.

Citing Nielsen Media Research data, Fox said the program brought in a total of 5.1 million viewers, which was indeed more than CNN and MSNBC combined.

CNN’s Chris Cuomo only had 1.8 million viewers during that Thursday time slot, while MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow had 3.1 million viewers, Fox reported.

The interview with Trump also won among viewers in the coveted 25–54 age demographic, earning just shy of 1 million viewers in that key group, according to Fox. CNN and MSNBC reportedly managed to draw less than half a million each.

As for the president’s rally in Tulsa, the Trump campaign said in a press release that it had approximately 20 million viewers for the event between in-person attendees and television viewers, including 8 million who watched the rally on Fox.

While the media’s polls might suggest that Trump will lose to Biden, it’s clear that TV ratings for the president tell an entirely different story.