The national media use polls the way they deploy all kinds of facts. They very carefully organize things to make it look like their worldview is winning. Throughout these first months of the second term, they've presented Trump's actions as chaotic and (they hope) politically damaging to Republicans.
So they may not notice polls that offer some good news. Let's take the Real Clear Politics average of polls on whether the country's going in the right or wrong direction. The numbers are more positive than anyone watching the networks would expect. It could be defined as voters stiff-arming the relentless media negativity.
Kudos to President Trump and his team for muscling through near universally negative media coverage to post this “right direction” spike… https://t.co/zLdL12YdRw
— David Bozell 🇺🇸 (@DavidBozell) May 23, 2025
So in the RCP average, "right direction" is only at -7. RCP lists the newest polls and their margins: Economist/You Gov (-7.3), Harvard/Harris (-11), Rasmussen Reports (tied at 47), Marquette (-16), Quantus Insights (-6), Big Data Poll (-7) and Emerson (-4). All of these are surveys of "registered voters," except Rasmussen polled "likely voters" and Marquette just polled "adults."
This poll number doesn't always translate to actual politicians. Some conservatives right now might say "wrong direction" because they don't like the Trump trade policies, for example, but they're still Trump voters. We heard routinely in 2004 that George W. Bush was going to lose because of "wrong direction" numbers.
There are other signs that discourage Democrats. Margaret Talev of Axios.com reported on Wisconsin focus groups who are sticking with Trump:
Wisconsin swing voters who switched from former President Biden to President Trump in our latest Engagious/Sago focus groups are mostly standing by Trump despite reservations….Nine of the 12 participants said they approve overall of Trump's actions since taking office. None of the 12 said they would pick Kamala Harris if they could get a do-over.
It could also be argued that no one should need an opinion poll for at least the first six months of a new presidential term. But this is one way that the media tries to intimidate Republicans out of passing policies they hate. "Oh, you're sinking in the polls!" When the polls don't look grim, they'll likely be skipped, like this.
