RismadarVoice Reporters
January 22, 2020
United States President, Donald Trump, has announced plans to sue The New York Times over what he described as an unfavourable, fake opinion poll, while also suggesting that fraudulent surveys should be criminalized.
Trump made the declaration on Thursday, following 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 surveys indicating declining public support about a year into his second term in office.
Reacting via his Truth Social platform, the 79-
year-old Republican accused the newspaper of bias and wrongdoing.
“The Times Siena Poll will be added to my lawsuit against The Failing New York Times,” Trump wrote. “They will be held fully responsible for all of their Radical Left lies and wrongdoing.”
In a further post, Trump argued that “fake and fraudulent polling should be, virtually, a criminal offence.”
The President has a history of legal battles with media organizations and has previously filed defamation lawsuits against outlets including the BBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, CBS and ABC, some of which reportedly ended in multi-million-dollar settlements.
Trump first sued The New York Times in September 2025, seeking 15 billion dollars in damages over claims that the paper published false reports to undermine his 2024 presidential campaign and damage his reputation.
The suit was dismissed
by a federal judge but later refiled in amended form in October.
In response, The New York Times described the lawsuit as “an attempt to stifle independent reporting”, an act of intimidation against the media.
The latest Times/Siena poll also highlighted declining approval of Trump’s handling of the economy and his military-style crackdown on illegal immigration.
The survey, regarded as one of the most credible in US politics, further indicated a shift in voter demographics, showing that younger and non-white voters who supported Trump in the 2024 election against Democrat Kamala Harris have largely withdrawn their backing, leaving him with a core base of older, white voters.
