Poll Misrepresents the Electorate

Speech delivered by Chairman Lamar Smith on the House floor on July 19, 2017

A recent Washington Post/ABC news poll states that only 36% of Americans approve of the job President Trump is doing.

But the results of this poll are flawed because it did not use a representative sample of Republican and Democratic participants.

This Washington Post/ABC poll used a population sample that was 35 percent Democratic and only 23 percent Republican, underrepresenting Republican voters by about 10 percent.

As noted by strategist Jim McLaughlin, “If the poll reflected the actual electorate, Trump would be in mid-40s, which is what his favorability rating was on Election Day when he won an overwhelming Electoral College victory.”

These same Washington Post pollsters gave Hillary Clinton a four-point advantage over Donald Trump on the eve of the election. They consistently predicted a significant Clinton victory, only to be proved wrong. Their credibility is questionable.