JOHN MCCAIN/POLLS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “On Sunday [8-26-18] night, as the political world was wondering whether he might offer a more fulsome celebration of the life of John McCain, President Donald Trump instead tweeted this: ‘Over 90% approval rating for your all time favorite (I hope) President within the Republican Party and 52% overall. This despite all of the made up stories by the Fake News Media trying endlessly to make me look as bad and evil as possible. Look at the real villains please!’ Which, given what we know about Trump (he is uniquely self-focused) and how much he cares about positive polling (a whole hell of a lot), isn’t terribly surprising. The only problem? This poll doesn’t exist. Or, to be totally and completely accurate, neither I — nor anyone else I checked with — was able to identify the origins of the 52% job approval number cited by Trump. (The 90% approval among Republicans is relatively commonplace; Trump is one of the most popular Republican presidents among Republican voters.)…There are just no recent polls — not a ONE — that shows Trump’s job approval rating at 52%.”
–Chris Cillizza, “Donald Trump thinks 52% of Americans approve of the job he’s doing. They don’t.,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, August 27, 2018 9:59 pm