Donald J.Trump claims 65% approval rating, calls honest pollsters “rare”
shared a McLaughlin poll showing 50% job approval after the Iran ceasefire initiative while asserting other polls place him even higher.
shared a McLaughlin poll showing 50% job approval after the Iran ceasefire initiative while asserting other polls place him even higher.
WHITE HOUSE — Donald J.Trump claimed his approval rating stands at 65% or higher and criticized pollsters and journalists as dishonest by mentioning the source (see newsmax) on a Truth Social post on June 26, 2026 at 8:52 AM EST.
Here is the full post (see truthsocial): “Other Polls have my Approval Rating at 65%, and more! Like Journalists, Honest Pollsters are very rare and hard to find! President DJT https://www.newsmax.com/mclaughlin/mclaughlin-poll-iran/2026/06/25/id/1.3 million/”
The Newsmax article Trump linked does not support the 65% figure he cited. The McLaughlin & Associates national survey of 1,000 likely midterm voters, conducted June 17-23, found Trump’s job approval at 50% with 46% disapproving (see newsmax). The same poll found Republicans trailing Democrats on the generic congressional ballot 46%-43%.
Source: Zenger real-time database of all Truth Social posts.
Note: Chart generated on June 26, 2026 at 9:00 AM EST
The McLaughlin survey focused on public reaction to Trump’s Iran ceasefire initiative. A majority of likely voters, 51% to 34%, approved of the ceasefire deal. Voters who receive news from right-of-center media backed the agreement 72%-17%, while those relying on left-of-center media opposed it 54%-35% (see newsmax).
Individual provisions of the Iran memorandum of understanding drew broad support. The poll found 76% of respondents approved of requiring Iran never to produce a nuclear weapon, backed by inspections, while 75% approved of requiring Iran to stop funding international terrorism directed at Israel and other nations (see newsmax).
Source: Zenger analysis
Note: Table generated by NewsFindr on June 26, 2026 at 9:00 AM EST
Trump’s claim of 65% approval contrasts with multiple publicly available polls that have placed his numbers lower (see npr.org). The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and Marist College polling operations have tracked presidential approval through independent methodologies that differ from partisan pollster approaches (see apnorc.org) (see marist.edu).
Trump has made media bias and polling accuracy a recurring theme on Truth Social. In the last 30 days, 15 of 617 Trump posts focused on the topic of media bias, placing it among his frequent subjects during a period dominated by the Iran negotiations and midterm positioning.
The McLaughlin poll identified what its authors called a “messaging gap” between the popular elements of the Iran agreement and the broader public debate. Less popular provisions included maintaining the status quo on Iran’s nuclear program without new sanctions, which drew only 39% approval, and allowing Iran to maintain low-level uranium enrichment, which 49% of respondents opposed (see newsmax).