US President Donald Trump has vowed to sue The New York Times over an unfavourable opinion poll, calling the survey fake and fraudulent
US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would sue The New York Times over what he described as a “fake” and unfavourable opinion poll, going further to suggest that such surveys should be treated as criminal offences.
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Trump reacted angrily to the publication of a New York Times/Siena University poll which showed his approval rating at 40 per cent, a figure consistent with several other recent surveys indicating declining public support one year into his second term.
“The Times Siena Poll… will be added to my lawsuit against The Failing New York Times,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“They will be held fully responsible for all of their Radical Left lies and wrongdoing!”
In a follow-up post, the president escalated his rhetoric, saying, “Fake and Fraudulent Polling should be, virtually, a criminal offence.”
Trump has a long-running and adversarial relationship with major media organisations and has filed multiple defamation lawsuits against outlets including the BBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, CBS and ABC. Some of these legal actions have reportedly ended in multi-million-dollar settlements.
In September 2025, Trump filed a $15bn defamation suit against The New York Times, alleging the newspaper published false reports designed to damage his 2024 re-election campaign and personal reputation.
That case was initially dismissed by a federal judge, before Trump refiled an amended complaint in October.
Reacting at the time, the newspaper described the lawsuit as “an attempt to stifle independent reporting” and characterised it as an act of intimidation.
The latest Times/Siena poll adds to growing evidence of political headwinds facing Trump, particularly over public dissatisfaction with his handling of the economy and his aggressive, militarised approach to immigration enforcement.
The survey, regarded as one of the most influential and methodologically rigorous in US politics, highlighted what the newspaper described as the “unravelling” of Trump’s 2024 electoral coalition.
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According to the findings, younger voters and non-white Americans who supported Trump in his election victory over Democrat Kamala Harris have since drifted away, leaving his support increasingly concentrated among older and white voters — a narrower base than the one that returned him to the White House.
