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Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr indicated in an interview this past weekend that he was open to using the agency to punish broadcasters that published polling data President Donald Trump deems to be “fake.”
Carr’s comments came about a week after Trump demanded on Truth Social that the FCC crack down on broadcasters.
“THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT,” Trump wrote, without citing evidence or specifying which polls he believes are “fake.”
The president also suggested that the agency Carr oversees should do something about the matter. “FCC TO THE RESCUE!” he wrote.
While a couple of polls published this year turned out to be falsified (with the organization responsible for the fake polls saying they had been part of a social experiment), Trump has offered no evidence that polling data being shared by television broadcasters is mostly fake.
In other posts, Trump has also claimed that he has “great poll numbers.” However, he has offered no evidence to demonstrate that he has positive ratings from the American people.
Indeed, an aggregate of polling data from FiftyPlusOne shows that, as of Tuesday, Trump’s approval rating averages around 35.8 percent, with a 59.9 percent disapproval rating. Trump’s approval rating hasn’t averaged a net-positive rating since the first few weeks of his second term in office.
Asked by Fox News host Peter Doocy over the weekend about the possibility of rebuking broadcasters for publishing the polls, Carr indicated that he was open to the idea.
The FCC is examining “a lot of actions” it could take, Carr said, adding:
There’s a lot of interest right now in fake polls that are out there, so the FCC may put guidance out soon to remind broadcasters about their obligations with respect to not airing fake polls.
Carr further suggested that so-called “fake polls” were being published to “suppress” voters. He did not indicate which polls he believed were fake during the interview.
Carr has responded to Trump’s demands to punish broadcasters in the past. For example, after Trump expressed dismay over jokes from late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, Carr called for a review of all local television stations owned by ABC. The network is currently suing Carr and the FCC, calling the action an “extraordinary assault” on their First Amendment speech rights.
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