The White House sparked controversy on social media after posting a message celebrating an increase in American approval of President Donald Trump’s performance to 57.11%, based on a poll attributed to Rasmussen Reports, a well-known American company that issues daily political polls.

The post garnered over 15 million views on the platform X but faced a flood of questions regarding the credibility of the numbers and the actual level of support within the United States.

Millions of users interacted with the post, some skeptical and others supportive, with many comments focusing on the announced percentage being exaggerated and not reflecting the general mood in the country, while others shared links to competing polls showing much lower figures.

In response to the controversy, Rasmussen Reports attached a table showing Trump’s approval rating over five days, indicating that the rating indeed reached 57.11% on September 25. However, Trump’s opponents quickly pointed out that the daily rating published on the company’s own website for the same day did not exceed 49%, reigniting old accusations of the company’s bias toward Republicans.

This is not the first time Rasmussen has faced harsh criticism; the site 538, affiliated with ABC News and specialized in aggregating and evaluating polls, excluded Rasmussen from its indexes in March 2024, citing failure to meet credibility standards.

Debunking

Despite the White House’s recent promotion of a surge in President Donald Trump’s popularity surpassing 57%, independent polls reveal a completely different picture, as Trump failed to break the 50% ceiling in most indicators released during September.

In a poll conducted by Ipsos over three days and published on September 23, only 41% expressed satisfaction with Trump’s performance, while 58% disapproved of his management of the country, highlighting the gap between the White House’s numbers and field measurements.

The Quinnipiac University poll released on September 24 showed that 38% of participants were satisfied with Trump’s performance, while 54% expressed dissatisfaction.

The university confirmed that this percentage showed no significant change compared to its previous poll on August 27, reflecting stability in approval ratings without any notable rise.

Similarly, Gallup, one of the oldest and most important polling institutions in the United States, published a report on September 22 indicating that Trump’s approval rating remained steady at 40%, the same percentage recorded in June and August, while 56% disapproved of his presidential performance.

Together, these figures reveal that talk of a new surge in Trump’s popularity lacks accuracy, and the sharp division between his supporters and opponents remains the most prominent feature in American public opinion.