President Trump on Friday lashed out at Fox News after the network released a poll that showed him trailing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden by 8 points nationally.
The president, who consistently attempts to cast doubt on any poll that shows him trailing, tweeted that Fox News “should fire their Fake Pollster.”
“Hope Roger A is looking down and watching what has happened to this once beautiful creation!” Trump tweeted, a reference to the late Fox News executive Roger Ailes, who resigned from the network in 2016 following sexual misconduct allegations.
A CNN poll released last week showed Trump trailing Biden nationally, but leading in swing states.
And a CNBC poll released this week showed Trump with a narrow lead over the former vice president among battleground voters.
The Fox News poll from Thursday found 48 percent of those surveyed favored Biden, compared with 40 percent who backed Trump. The two were tied at 42 percent in the same survey last month.
Biden leads by 17 points among voters aged 65 and older and by 13 points among independents, according to the Fox poll, two key groups that helped Trump win election in 2016.
The president’s critical tweets on Friday are the latest in a barrage of attacks on Fox News, a network he still regularly appears on and promotes.
Trump complained Thursday that Fox News was not doing anything to help him and other Republicans get reelected in November. The president in late April tweeted that he wanted an “alternative” to the right-leaning news network.
Despite his criticisms, Trump still conducts interviews with the network more than any other. He recently called into “Fox & Friends” and sat down with Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo.
Trump regularly targets Fox hosts such as Neil Cavuto and Chris Wallace while praising and amplifying the work of opinion hosts including Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro, all of whom lavish the president with praise and excoriate his critics.