President Donald Trump has escalated his long-running feud with The New York Times, threatening to incorporate the outlet's latest unfavorable poll into his existing defamation lawsuit against the newspaper.
In a series of three posts on Truth Social, Trump reacted angrily to a New York Times/Siena College poll released Thursday, which showed his job approval rating at 40% among registered voters—one year into his second term. The survey, conducted January 12-17 among 1,625 registered voters, found broad dissatisfaction: less than a third of respondents believed the country was better off than before Trump's return to office, with many saying he had focused on the wrong issues. Independent voters were particularly critical, with only 34% approving of his performance and 52% saying the country was worse off.
Trump directly targeted the poll in his first post, writing: "The Times Siena Poll, which is always tremendously negative to me, especially just before the Election of 2024, where I won in a Landslide, will be added to my lawsuit against The Failing New York Times."
He claimed the results were "fake," accused the poll of being "heavily skewed toward Democrats," and said his lawyers had demanded the outlet preserve all records and computing methods. "They will be held fully responsible for all of their Radical Left lies and wrongdoing!"
In a follow-up post, Trump broadened his attack, declaring that "Fake and Fraudulent Polling should be, virtually, a criminal offense." He also criticized other recent polls from Fox News and The Wall Street Journal as "terrible," continuing his pattern of dismissing surveys that show declining support.
The outburst fits into Trump's ongoing legal battles with media organizations. He has already filed defamation claims against The New York Times related to its 2024 election coverage and other reporting, and has pursued similar actions against outlets like CNN, ABC, CBS, and individual pollsters in the past.
A New York Times spokesperson responded that "President Trump likes polls that appear favorable to him and dislikes polls that do not." Free speech advocates, including groups like the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), have previously condemned similar efforts as attempts to weaponize lawsuits against protected expression.