Trump Says Poll Shows Him Outpacing Lincoln in Popularity

Donald Trump claimed on Saturday that polls are showing he is “six times more popular” than Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, or any other U.S. president.

Why it matters: The poll cited by the president reflects his enormous influence within the Republican Party, but does not allow us to conclude that he is the most popular president among all Americans.

Trump’s Popularity Surpasses Lincoln in Poll

After a poll of his own party: Trump says he is “six times more popular than Lincoln and Washington” https://t.co/lpoAfMqPe2

— CNN Chile (@CNNChile) August 29, 2026

The statement came after Harry Enten, CNN’s chief data analyst, presented the results of a poll conducted jointly by CNN and SSRS.

The study, conducted in May among over 1,200 adults identified as Republicans, asked which U.S. president they admired most.

In numbers: Trump received 53%, Ronald Reagan 18%, Abraham Lincoln 8%, and George Washington 5%.

The results placed Trump far above other historical figures among the Republicans who participated in the poll.

This means that Trump achieved more than six times the percentage registered by Lincoln and more than ten times that obtained by Washington within that sample.

The Poll Does Not Measure All Americans

The difference is important: the percentages correspond only to adults who identified as Republicans, not to the entire U.S. population.

Therefore, the poll allows us to measure the admiration Trump generates within his party, but not to establish who is the most popular president in U.S. history.

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The limitation: Democrats, independents, and people who do not identify as Republicans were excluded from the sample mentioned.

Trump presented the numbers more broadly when commenting on Enten’s analysis on Truth Social.

“The best person at CNN is pollster Harry Enten,” Trump wrote, before assuring that he had demonstrated his advantage over Lincoln, Washington, and other presidents.

The Numbers Show Trump’s Dominance Over the Republican Party

Beyond the historical comparison posed by Trump, the result offers another political reading: his figure continues to dominate the preferences of the Republican base widely.

Enten summarized that influence by assuring that Trump continues to be “the sun around which the planets of the Republican Party revolve.”

The fact: Trump’s 53% is nearly three times the 18% recorded by Ronald Reagan, who ranked second in the poll.

Analyst cited an Elon University poll that, he said, shows similar results on Trump’s influence among Republicans.

This distinction matters: the poll does not show that Trump is six times more popular than Lincoln among Americans overall.

What the numbers do show is that, among the Republicans consulted, no other mentioned president currently approaches the level of admiration that Trump concentrates.

Sources: Efe News, CNN