Trailing his Democratic opponent in national and state polls, Donald Trump declared Tuesday that he no longer believes in their results.
“Even though we’re doing pretty well in the polls, I don’t believe the polls anymore,” Trump told a crowd in Colorado Springs.
Trump made the same case to an audience in Grand Junction, Colorado, claiming both that the polls are not that bad for him and that he doesn’t think that they are accurate.
“You can’t believe anything you see,” he said Tuesday. “I don’t even believe the polls. I see these polls and they’re not terrible. They’re sort of good. Actually if the people come out and vote, they’re very nervous. I have a feeling this is another Brexit.”
“Let’s say we’re tied, then how come we have thousands and thousands of people, thousands and thousands?” Trump asked his supporters.
The Republican nominee has a complicated relationship with polls, promoting them furiously when he is ahead and dismissing them out of hand when they show him behind. During the GOP primaries, Trump’s recitation of his poll results was as much a hallmark of his campaign rallies as his crowd’s chants to “build the wall.” He continued to promote surveys that show him in the lead during the general election race, while ignoring the many polls that demonstrate better numbers for Hillary Clinton.
Yet Trump has had a difficult time digging up favorable poll results in the last few weeks after a video leaked in which he bragged about his habitual predatory behavior towards women and a number of women came out with sexual assault allegations against him.
As recently as Monday, however, the real estate mogul sent a tweet sharing the results of a CNN Ohio poll as proof that he still had “great numbers” among the electorate.
Wow, new polls just came out from @CNN Great numbers, especially after total media hit job. Leading Ohio 48 – 44.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2016
Trump has yet to pull ahead of Clinton in any national poll during the entire campaign, and she is either ahead or tied with him in Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania and other battleground states.
The Republican nominee often points to his large rally audiences as proof that he can still triumph at the ballot box.
