President Trump turned his South Carolina rally into an impromptu survey on Thursday. He asked his supporters to raise their hands if they had ever been polled.
The moment came during a rally in Rock Hill, South Carolina, as Trump dismissed recent polling that shows Republicans trailing ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
“How many people in this room were ever polled? Has anybody been polled?” Trump asked.
MS NOW congressional reporter Mychael Schnell, who was at the event, posted that only about 10 people in the room raised their hands.
The moment has added fuel to a long-running theory among Republicans: that GOP voters simply don’t answer pollsters, and that surveys are therefore underestimating support for the party’s candidates.
Trump didn’t mince words about the polls themselves. He called unfavorable surveys “completely fake.” He also claimed that some pollsters don’t actually talk to voters and just make up the numbers.
“I don’t believe in polls because I think the real poll is Election Day,” Trump said. He also claimed he had never met a single Republican who had taken part in one.
The president also took aim at Wedgewood Polling, a firm recently revealed to be phony, which Trump referred to as “Ridgewood.” He suggested that whoever was behind it must have been in trouble with the law.
Republicans have pointed to past polling misses as reason for hope. In 2024, Trump’s final share of the vote came in about 3 points higher than pre-election polls showed. Analysts at the time said that likely voter models had understated turnout among low-propensity voters, who broke heavily for Trump. Polls also underestimated Trump in 2016 and 2020.
The current numbers are not kind to the GOP. The RealClearPolling average shows Democrats leading Republicans 51.4% to 43.2% on the generic congressional ballot. The latest Marquette Law School poll of Wisconsin put Trump’s approval rating at 37%.
Still, Trump has insisted that the polls fail to capture his impact on the campaign trail. At an Ohio rally earlier this month, he told supporters that the surveys don’t account for him campaigning personally.
In Rock Hill, Trump urged the crowd not to take the election for granted. He asked them to vote as though he were on the ballot himself. He argued that he is on the ballot, because the election is a referendum on what his administration has accomplished.
Some veteran Republican pollsters have also raised doubts about the accuracy of this year’s surveys. GOP strategist Frank Luntz recently said polls are not as clear as they used to be because Republicans don’t participate. He also cautioned that focus groups suggest many Republicans may sit out the midterms altogether.
Democrats argue that the president is simply trying to wish away bad numbers. Whether the polls are right will be settled Tuesday.
[READ MORE: El-Sayed Repeatedly Dodges Question on Gender Transitions for Minors, Calls Restrictions ‘Tyranny’]
