New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sharply condemned a poll recently cited by President Trump showing the freshman congresswoman appeals favorably to only 21% of poll participants. Trump quoted information from the poll, which was published by news website Axios and reportedly exclusively conducted for Democratic leaders in Congress.
The president said Congress should be working to vote on a resolution to condemn the four “Congresswomen, who I truly believe, based on their actions, hate our Country. Get a list of the HORRIBLE things they have said. Omar is polling at 8%, Cortez at 21%. Nancy Pelosi tried to push them away, but now they are forever wedded to the Democrat Party. See you in 2020!”
…..Congresswomen, who I truly believe, based on their actions, hate our Country. Get a list of the HORRIBLE things they have said. Omar is polling at 8%, Cortez at 21%. Nancy Pelosi tried to push them away, but now they are forever wedded to the Democrat Party. See you in 2020!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez said Trump’s remarks about polling were based on misinformation and that “authoritarians rely on mass distortion of reality to further concentrate their power, and they will take advantage of anyone and anything to meet that end.”
Authoritarians rely on mass distortion of reality to further concentrate their power, and they will take advantage of anyone and anything to meet that end. ⬇️ https://t.co/hhrHESapr5
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 16, 2019
In conducting the poll, top Democrats hoped to identify potential swing voters with data collected from the poll that was conducted among 1,003 participants who were all white and had less than two years of college. The worry, reportedly, was that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and other ultra-liberal members of Congress known as “the squad” had become the face of the Democratic party, which could potentially alienate moderate voters in 2020.
Poll results showed that while 74% of people recognized Ocasio-Cortez by name, only 22% viewed her favorably. Fellow “squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar was recognized by 53% of participants and viewed favorably by only 9%. Other questions on the poll included approval of socialist policies, which showed only 18% of participants viewed favorably. Democrats looking ahead to the 2020 election characterized the results as, “Socialism is toxic to these voters.”
Trump on Wednesday cited the poll in a Twitter tirade against members of “the squad” who he had recently chided on by telling them to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
