CNN’s Jake Tapper Razzes Trump for Posting Flattering Poll Numbers — That Came from CPAC Attendees

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

CNN anchor Jake Tapper had some fun at President Donald Trump’s expense after the president posted several charts purporting to show highly flattering poll results — which were revealed to come from an extremely friendly audience.

Tuesday, Trump posted several polls on his Truth Social account showing sky-high approval ratings for him on several topics. To say these numbers were outliers from his recent polling would be an epic understatement; Trump’s polling has been negative throughout his second term and has hit a new low in the wake of backlash over his immigration crackdown, tariffs, economic issues, the Iran war, and so on.

Besides the fact that the questions showed a clear favorable slant — Do you approve or disapprove of Trump’s “use of tariffs to reduce America’s trade deficit and create a more fair playing field for American workers and businesses”? — the key factor was the identity of the poll respondents.

The polls had a “McLaughlin & Associates” logo. Tapper wrote a tweet to John McLaughlin, CEO of the polling company, asking if he could “shed any light on these graphics the president posted?”

“The WH has declined to comment and I’m very curious about them,” Tapper added. “Are they yours? Who was polled?”

McLaughlin replied that the poll was conducted among attendees of the most recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas — a self-selecting universe of GOP and conservative activists who are largely fervent MAGA supporters.

(Even though Trump himself skipped the conference this year, he still polls well in this group.)

Tapper posted a follow-up tweet with an implied dig at Trump over his posts.

“This polling is of CPAC attendees,” wrote Tapper. “Curious why that doesn’t appear in the graphics the president posted, but there you go!”

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