Now that he's lost his lead, Donald Trump is questioning the accuracy of polls
Donald Trump seems to be a fair-weather fan of presidential polls. When the polls had him leading the GOP pack, he pointed to them as evidence of his credibility. But now that he's lost his lead to Ben Carson in Iowa and is also falling behind the retired neurosurgeon nationally, Trump is beginning to question the polls' legitimacy.
While Trump says that he "generally believe[s] in polls" — adding that he took a class in polling back in college — he says that he just doesn't "quite get" these new polls.
"Well, I think you have to understand polls," Trump said on MSNBC's Morning Joe Monday. "The thing with these polls, they're all so different. They are coming from all over the lot where one guy is up here, somebody else is up there, you see swings of 10 and 12 points and immediately even the same day. So right now it's not very scientific."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Just last week, Trump was singing the polls' praises — scientific or not:
On the same day Trump changed his assessment of the polls, a New York Times/CBS News poll was released that put Carson at 26 percent and Trump at 22 percent.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Heavenly spectacle in the wilds of CanadaThe Week Recommends ‘Mind-bending’ outpost for spotting animals – and the northern lights
-
Facial recognition: a revolution in policingTalking Point All 43 police forces in England and Wales are set to be granted access, with those against calling for increasing safeguards on the technology
-
Sudoku hard: December 14, 2025The daily hard sudoku puzzle from The Week
-
Senate votes down ACA subsidies, GOP alternativeSpeed Read The Senate rejected the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, guaranteeing a steep rise in health care costs for millions of Americans
-
Abrego García freed from jail on judge’s orderSpeed Read The wrongfully deported man has been released from an ICE detention center
-
Indiana Senate rejects Trump’s gerrymander pushSpeed Read The proposed gerrymander would have likely flipped the state’s two Democratic-held US House seats
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign