President Donald Trump said “MAGA HATES” Fox News after the network’s latest polling suggested he had an unfavorable approval rating.
The new poll, conducted June 13-16 among 1,003 registered voters, found 54 percent of respondents disapproved of Trump’s job performance (a 1-point improvement on Fox’s previous poll in Apil), while 46 percent approved (a 2-point improvement).
President Trump sharply criticized Fox News’ polling, especially on the border and immigration, writing on Truth Social on Thursday, the day after the poll was released: “It’s why MAGA HATES FoxNews, even though their anchors are GREAT.”
International politics professor Scott Lucas, of University College Dublin, told Newsweek polling suggested Trump is “slipping” on migration. “Even those Americans who might support him in general about reducing the numbers of migrants and asylum seekers would disagree with him on the methods that he’s using it with the military,” he said.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Why It Matters
Trump’s approval rating, capturing the public’s response to his policies, has fluctuated during his second term. Fox News’ negative polling is in particular significant as a conservative network often supportive of Trump’s policies.
What To Know
The new Fox News poll suggested:
On border security, a key priority for the administration, 53 percent of those surveyed in the new poll said they approved of Trump’s handling of the issue and 46 percent said they disapproved. (a net 8-point setback on Fox’s April poll).On immigration, 46 percent approved and 53 percent disapproved of Trump’s job performance (a net 6-point setback).On Inflation, 34 percent approved and 65 percent disapproved (a net 5-point setback).
The poll had a margin of sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points.
Trump called the new poll “crooked” and said Fox’s polling was “always wrong and negative.” In particular, he expressed disappoint at his latest border security rating, writing “and yet the Border is miraculously perfect.”
Fox News’ previous poll in April suggested: 55 percent approved of Trump’s border security job performance, while 40 percent disapproved; 47 percent approved of Trump’s handling of immigration, while 48 percent disapproved; 33 percent approved of his handling of inflation, while 59 percent disapproved.
There are 21 former Fox News personalities in Trump’s second administration, including high-profile figures such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
What People Are Saying
Scott Lucas , professor in international politics at University College Dublin, told Newsweek: “The Fox poll is going to get headlines in part because it Fox where you have a lot of Trump supporters, in part because the numbers are so stark and in part because of Trump’s angry reaction on social media.”
He added that Trump’s poll numbers are “swinging” and dropped particularly in April because of “the economy, trade and inflation” and Trump’s “damaging” tariffs policy. He said bringing the military into Los Angeles to deal with protests also hampered his rating, even among those who agree with his immigration policy because they may not agree with this method. “He’s slipping” on migration, he said.
Trump in his Truth Social post: “The Crooked FoxNews Polls got the Election WRONG, I won by much more than they said I would, and have been biased against me for years. They are always wrong and negative. It’s why MAGA HATES FoxNews, even though their anchors are GREAT. This has gone on for years, but they never change the incompetent polling company that does their work. Now a new FoxNews poll comes out this morning giving me a little more than 50% at the Border, and yet the Border is miraculously perfect, NOBODY WAS ABLE TO COME IN LAST MONTH. 60,000 people came in with Sleepy Joe in the same month last year. I hate FAKE pollsters, one of the Worst, but Fox will never change their discredited pollster!”
