Rasmussen Reports has long been Donald Trump's favorite polling outlet because its results present him in a much more favorable light than reality-based polls do. But when Mark Mitchell of Rasmussen Reports spoke to the president at the White House and warned him that he's not delivering for his supporters, Trump changed the subject to golf.
The Washington Post reports:
“Sir, you got shot at the Butler rally,” Mitchell said, invoking the “really strong optics” of Trump raising his fist in defiance after the attempted assassination in July 2024.
“You said, ‘Fight, fight, fight.’ But nobody ever clarified what that means,” Mitchell continued. “And right now, you’re fight-fight-fighting Marjorie Taylor Greene, and not actually fight-fight-fighting for Americans.”
The head pollster at Rasmussen Reports warned Trump that many of his supporters believe he hasn’t “drained the swamp” in Washington, and suggested the president refocus with a plan to embrace “pragmatic economic populism.”
“To the extent to which we were talking about the economic populism message, he wasn’t as interested as I would have hoped,” Mitchell said, adding that it was a “long-ranging conversation.”
Mitchell’s critique echoes a growing chorus of faithful MAGA supporters who have begun raising concerns over what they see as Trump’s second-term shortcomings. In recent weeks, pockets of the president’s base — well-known for its unwavering dedication to Trump and his MAGA agenda — have accused the president of focusing too much on foreign affairs, failing to address the cost of living issues he pledged to fix, aligning himself too closely with billionaires and tech moguls, and resisting the release of more investigative files on the deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
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Mitchell was invited to the White House by Vice President JD Vance, who follows him on X and has communicated with Mitchell about polling in recent months. Before lunch with Trump, Mitchell met with Vance, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mitchell is not part of the president’s political operation, but Trump’s advisers were interested in hearing his outside perspective, a White House official told The Post.
Mitchell said Trump listened to his concerns and asked questions, but eventually pivoted to one of his favorite conversation topics: golf. He gushed about two of his golf partners, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Fox News host Bret Baier, both of whom are the subject of MAGA-faction ire. Trump also bragged about how much money he had raised during a golf fundraiser for Graham the weekend before, a day after he declared he was rescinding his support for Greene.
As John Amato reported, Trump's approval ratings on the economy, inflation, and immigration are at their lowest points in his two administrations. Trump's approval rating on the economy is now at 31 percent, which fares poorly for Republicans, who are trying to fend off the inevitable blue wave for the midterms.
Still, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described Trump as the “proud founder and undisputed leader” of MAGA, “the greatest political movement in American history.”
“President Trump is delivering on his core campaign promises across the board, keeping his word to the nearly 80 million patriots who elected him in a landslide, and fighting every day to make America greater than ever before,” she insisted.
Sure thing, hon. The midterms are going to be lit.
