Fox issues on-air correction for poll Trump tweeted showing false approval rating

The poll actually says that the president's approval rating is 43 per cent

Fox Business Network has issued an on-air correction after Donald Trump tweeted a mistake of theirs showing his approval rating at a much higher level than where it actually stands.

Mr Trump’s tweet came on Thursday morning, showing a graphic from Wednesday night’s broadcast falsely indicating that a poll showed him as having a 55 per cent approval rating. The graphic also said that 58 per cent of respondents approved of the president’s handling of the economy.

In their correction, Fox Business Network clarified that the 55 per cent figure is actually his un-favourability rating. The poll in question actually pegged the president's approval at 43 per cent, and his disapproval at 52 per cent.

“It’s been a quiet start to the day for President Trump, though he did send out a tweet this morning from the Lou Dobbs show last night on Fox Business. That tweet featured a poll that was not entirely accurate, which Fox Business would like to correct,” an anchor said on-air on Thursday morning.

“According to a poll from Georgetown University, 58 per cent of respondents approved of the president’s handling of the economy. That portion of the graphic was right,” the correction continued. “However, the graphic also showed that 55 per cent of the respondents approve of the president, that number is not correct. The 55 per cent number was those who have an unfavourable impression of President Trump.”

Mr Trump’s tweet on Thursday morning heralded the poll as “Great News!”, and his Twitter account still had the tweet up as of noon on Thursday on the east coast.

The president had followed up that graphic with two other tweets featuring Fox content, including Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo called alleged spying on the Trump campaign in 2016 a failed “coup”.

The spying was alleged on Wednesday by attorney general William Barr during congressional testimony.