Donald Trump loves to talk about his poll numbers. Or at least, he loves to talk about his poll numbers when they are good. When he’s up, poll after poll is blared from his Twitter account. And when he’s down? Well, he’s a great deal quieter.
Lately, he has been quieter. And for good reason. I took a look back at RealClearPolitics’s collection of polling data from 2008 and 2012 and compared it to 2016, noting each time that the Republican candidate fell below 40% against the Democratic nominee in a head-to-head match-up (thus, McCain vs. Obama, Romney vs. Obama, Trump vs. Clinton). The numbers are intriguing, to say the least: Throughout the course of his campaign, Trump has dipped below 40% in various national polls 35 times. In the same polls and timeframes for the 2008 and 2012 elections, McCain and Romney dipped below that mark just 15 and nine times, respectively. And at the end of their campaigns, McCain and Romney had RCP polling averages at 44.5 and 48.1. Trumps current number? 39.8.
There’s a long way to go, but these numbers are certainly interesting. But not interesting enough, of course, for Trump to tweet them in all-caps.