Joe Biden coldly rains on Trump's happy-poll parade

Joe Biden in San Antonio — (Image credit: Daniel Carde/Getty Images)

President Trump had a good poll on Monday: In a USA Today/Suffolk University survey, he leads all his potential Democratic rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden by 3 percentage points, just inside the poll's ±3 point margin of error. But that's not the poll Trump highlighted on Twitter Monday afternoon — in fact, it's not quite clear what poll he was tweeting about that has his approval rating at 51 percent, or even above 50 percent. Biden either found that elusive poll or just decided he might just as well make up a number, too.

Biden does lead Trump by 7 points in a new Fox News poll, but Trump's overall approval rating in that survey is 45 percent, with 53 percent disapproving of his job performance. In the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Biden leads Trump by 6.2 percentage points and Trump's average approval rating is 44 percent, 8.8 points underwater.

In any case, point made, point won. The USA Today/Suffolk poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters Dec. 10-14.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.