United States President Donald Trump has announced he will sue The New York Times over an unfavourable opinion poll and suggested that “fake” surveys should be criminalised.
Trump’s threat came after the publication of a New York Times/Siena University poll showing only 40 percent approval for the 79-year-old Republican president, consistent with other polls indicating declining support a year into his second term.
“The Times Siena Poll…will be added to my lawsuit against The Failing New York Times,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “They will be held fully responsible for all of their Radical Left lies and wrongdoing!”
In a follow-up post, he stated, “Fake and Fraudulent Polling should be, virtually, a criminal offence.”
Trump has filed multiple defamation lawsuits against media organisations, including the BBC, CNN, Wall Street Journal, CBS, and ABC, some of which have resulted in multi-million-dollar settlements.
He initially filed a $15 billion defamation suit against the Times in September 2025, accusing the newspaper of publishing false stories to damage his 2024 presidential campaign and reputation. A federal judge dismissed the complaint, but Trump refiled an amended version in October.
The Times responded by calling the lawsuit “an attempt to stifle independent reporting” and “intimidation.”
The latest Times/Siena poll highlighted what the newspaper described as the unravelling of Trump’s 2024 coalition, noting that young and non-white voters who supported him in the election against Democrat Kamala Harris have since moved away, leaving him reliant on his core base of older, white voters.
