US President Donald Trump announces a lawsuit against The New York Times over a poll showing 40% approval, calling “fake” surveys a criminal offence.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump announced he will sue The New York Times over an unfavourable opinion poll.
He suggested that what he called “fake” surveys should be criminalised.
Trump lashed out after publication of a New York Times/Siena University poll finding only 40% approval for the 79-year-old Republican.
“The Times Siena Poll…will be added to my lawsuit against The Failing New York Times,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
He claimed the newspaper would be “held fully responsible for all of their Radical Left lies and wrongdoing”.
Expanding on the threat, Trump posted that “Fake and Fraudulent Polling should be, virtually, a criminal offense”.
Trump has fired off multiple defamation lawsuits against media companies, including the BBC, CNN, Wall Street Journal, CBS and ABC.
Some of these lawsuits have ended in multi-million-dollar settlements.
He first filed a RM70.5 billion defamation suit against the Times in September 2025.
That lawsuit claimed the leading US newspaper had run false stories to hurt his 2024 presidential campaign and reputation.
The initial complaint was thrown out by a federal judge before being refiled in amended form in October.
The Times responded by calling that new lawsuit “an attempt to stifle independent reporting” and “intimidation”.
Thursday’s Times/Siena poll found Trump’s popularity continues to slide over his handling of the economy.
It also cited a military-style crackdown on illegal immigration as a factor in declining support.
Times/Siena is considered among the most accurate and highest profile of US political surveys.
Its latest findings were notable for laying out what the Times called the unraveling of Trump’s winning 2024 coalition.
The poll found young and non-white voters who turned out for Trump in the election against Democrat Kamala Harris have now left him.
This leaves him with his previous core base of older and white voters.
