President Donald Trump on Thursday retweeted an unreliable online poll purporting to show that people think he is a better president than Barack Obama was.
Trump retweeted a survey by ProgressPolls, a Twitter account that describes itself as focused “on current events and politics.” The “poll” claimed 61 percent of respondents said he was a better president than Obama.
Online polls are not statistically sound, as they only reflect the views of those respondents who choose to participate instead of using random sampling and phone number generation, and do not adjust results to reflect proportional ratios of racial and gender groups relative to the national average.
ProgressPolls joined Twitter in March 2016, according to its profile, and lists its location as the United States. The account claims to ask “the tough questions that people need to be asked.”
There is no site listed in the account’s Twitter profile, but Progresspolls.com is a registered domain, albeit one without a front page. According to lookup service Whois.com, the domain was registered in July through a service listed in Panama City.
In a series of messages with TPM on social media, ProgressPolls said the account is run by “a group of four people scattered around” the United States and was created “to give people a chance to have their voices heard through the act of voting.”
“I think it’s pretty clear that our polls are not scientifically accurate, but do represent large masses of opinion here on Twitter,” ProgressPolls said.
ProgressPolls said it has “been getting quite a bit of traffic from” Trump’s retweet.
“We appreciate his RT, very nice to see!” ProgressPolls said. “It’s hard to expect what could happen within 24 hours in this political climate.”
Asked whether they’ve seen any broad swings in opinion since the account’s establishment, ProgressPolls said, “The country is more split than ever, people are on edge and want answers and action. That seems to be the most popular trend.”
ProgressPolls also denied any affiliation with the Panama-registered domain.
“No, not affiliated with that,” ProgressPolls said. “We’re just a Twitter account.”
The Daily Beast reported Thursday afternoon that ProgressPolls used to be named @Truth_Bombers, and promoted the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory and posted anti-Muslim tweets under that name.
One manager of the account told the Daily Beast that the “account has gone through several different management persons” and “has changed as such.”
There are 1.6B muslims in the world. If only 1% are radical & extremist, there are 16,000,000 muslims out there who want to kill you.
— ProgressPolls (@ProgressPolls) March 27, 2016
Germany, 2025 (Reminder: 1.1 Billion Muslims want Sharia law to rule the world) #Trump2016 #AlwaysTrump pic.twitter.com/NQ9epSCBzx
— ProgressPolls (@ProgressPolls) May 2, 2016
UCLA STUDY: Ugly people gravitate towards Feminism and Cultural Marxism – https://t.co/LAzg3B72tD – PC Culture is toast.
— ProgressPolls (@ProgressPolls) April 9, 2016
#Trump will be the 45th President of the United States, Hillary is going to Prison, Bernie is a Cuck, and the Wall just got 10ft HIGHER.
— ProgressPolls (@ProgressPolls) April 28, 2016
CNN's @andersoncooper covering up for #CrookedHillary defending a CHILD RAPIST! SPREAD THIS! https://t.co/42L4C6IAcJ pic.twitter.com/ihu0ArF2w2
— ProgressPolls (@ProgressPolls) May 16, 2016
In less than 2 weeks an ISIS Dem murders 50 gays while an illegal immigrant tries to assassinate #Trump. This is our election to lose folks.
— ProgressPolls (@ProgressPolls) June 21, 2016
h/t TPM reader RW
This post has been updated.
I’d say orange is better because he gives cartoonists so much material.
His Obama issues are epic. Does he have a mirror on the wall he gazes into and asks that same question?
Trump believes this poll.
Nuff said.
We knew Kelly would be doomed.
Bogus? Just like the Trump “presidency.”