Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said that President Trump is right to question “partisan” television networks, including NBC, and that his agency will issue “guidance” on what he called fake polling.
He ducked responding to Mr. Trump’s request that the FCC rebuke an NBC news anchor for saying the president’s primary endorsements were not all successful.
Mr. Carr appeared on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing” a week after Mr. Trump said he would report NBC’s “Meet the Press” host, Kristen Welker, to the FCC “for rebuke or punishment” for reporting that his endorsements rendered “mixed results” in recent Republican primaries.
The president called on the FCC in social media posts to “take this Threat to our country very seriously” and for Mr. Carr to address “FAKE POLLS.”
Mr. Carr did not answer a direct question about plans to rebuke or punish Ms. Welker.
“I think President Trump is over the target, and we’re looking at a lot of actions,” he told “The Sunday Briefing.”
Mr. Carr said the FCC is examining “fake polls that are out there” ahead of the midterm elections. He didn’t specify which polls are fake.
In August, a 21-year-old recent college graduate named Rahil Prakash created a fake polling firm and started publishing fabricated polls that some news outlets published without questioning their data.
One of his fake polls showed that Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was leading her socialist opponent, Nithya Raman, by 12 percentage points and that Ms. Bass had picked up most of the voters who had supported Republican Spencer Pratt. The Bass campaign promoted the poll.
“There’s a lot of interest right now in fake polls that are out there, and so the FCC may put guidance out soon to remind broadcasters about their obligations with respect to not airing fake polls, particularly if they’re done to suppress people heading into the fall,” Mr. Carr said.
Mr. Trump’s criticism of the polls comes at a time when his approval ratings have taken a dive. The latest polling shows his approval ratings as low as 33%. A RealClearPolitics average of polls calculated a 39.2% approval rating for the president.
Mr. Trump’s high disapproval is tied to inflation, gas prices and housing costs as well as the unpopular, prolonged war with Iran.
Mr. Trump often calls unfavorable polls “fake.”
Polling on Mr. Trump’s election prospects has been notoriously inaccurate.
Polls in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections underestimated Mr. Trump’s support.
According to the Pew Research Center, national polls ahead of the 2016 election predicted Hillary Clinton would win the popular vote by about 3 percentage points, and election forecasters gave her an estimated 70% to 99% chance of winning the White House.
Final polls ahead of 2024 showed Vice President Kamala Harris beating Mr. Trump by about 1 percentage point. Mr. Trump won the popular vote by 1.5% and the Electoral College 312-226, sweeping all seven swing states.
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