President Trump’s first internal campaign poll showed him trailing far behind Democratic front-runner and former Vice President Joe Biden in key battleground states, his campaign confirmed to ABC News in a report published Friday.
The data revealed Biden had a double-digit 55 percent to 39 percent lead in Pennsylvania, a 51-41 percent lead in Wisconsin and a 7 point lead in Florida. Trump was shown to be ahead by only 2 points in Texas, which has a strong Republican base.
The poll was conducted between March 15 and March 28, ABC News reported.
In May, Trump’s campaign denied initial reports of the data’s existence. 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted May 21 that the “#FakeNewsMedia … continue to lie with polling to fit their narrative.”
Parscale now says in a statement to ABC News that the numbers were, in fact, real — but they were “ancient,” adding that the campaign has since “seen huge swings” in Trump’s favor that show the president is ahead in “all the states we have tested.”
{mosads}“These leaked numbers are ancient, in campaign terms, from months-old polling that began in March before two major events had occurred: the release of the summary of the Mueller report exonerating the President, and the beginning of the Democrat candidates defining themselves with their far-left policy message,” the statement read.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russia’s election meddling did not directly accuse Trump of any crime, but it did not exonerate him, either.
Parscale added: “Since then, we have seen huge swings in the President’s favor across the 17 states we have polled, based on the policies now espoused by the Democrats. For example, the plan to provide free health care to illegal immigrants results in an 18-point swing toward President Trump.”
In an interview with ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday, Trump said his internal polling showed that he is “winning everywhere” and that the polls showing Biden ahead of him “don’t exist.”
A day after the interview, Trump weighed in on Twitter, accusing the media of reporting “phony” information and calling his numbers “the best numbers WE have ever had.”