MAGA Influencers Dismiss GOP's Bad Midterm Polls as 'Psyop'

What exactly are election deniers calling a 'psyop'?

They are talking about public polling showing Republicans trailing badly heading into the November midterms, according to WIRED. Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News the polling amounts to a "psyop…to depress conservative turnout," WIRED reported. Phillip Buchanan, the MAGA commentator known online as Catturd, told his four million X followers, "The laughable fake polls are rolling out." Steve Bannon used the same word — psyop — on his show, telling listeners, "our fate is still in our hands, no matter what the media is telling you, no matter what they're saying about a blue tsunami, a blue wave," per WIRED. Seth Keshel, a former Army colonel who promotes election-denial claims, went further on X: "Polling is so unethical now it should be outlawed," WIRED reported.

How often has Trump called polling data fake?

Thirty-nine times since returning to the White House, according to an analysis by the media watchdog Media Matters for America cited in WIRED's October 2, 2026, report. Nine of those instances came in August alone, the same analysis found. On Truth Social last month, Trump described unfavorable surveys as "demoralization operations" engineered by Democrats to suppress Republican turnout, WIRED reported. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump dismissed negative polling out of Iowa with a single line: "The polls are fake," according to WIRED's account of the exchange.

What do the polls actually show, and why are Republicans worried?

Multiple surveys cited by WIRED put Trump's approval rating at historic lows, with Democrats leading Senate races in states Trump carried easily in 2024. Reuters reported this week — as referenced in WIRED's piece — that Republican committees are now spending money defending dozens of seats the party had previously treated as safe. One unnamed, longtime Trumpworld operative told WIRED bluntly: "Oh, yeah, we're going to get creamed." WIRED also reported that Trump's own aides are privately concerned the party could lose control of both the House and Senate. The gap between private GOP anxiety and public dismissal of the data is the core tension in WIRED's reporting: the same campaign apparatus reallocating money to protect previously safe seats is, in public, amplifying claims that the underlying numbers are manufactured.

What do 'psyop' and 'demoralization operation' mean here?

• Psyop — short for psychological operation, a military term for messaging designed to influence an adversary's behavior or morale; election deniers are using it to claim pollsters are trying to suppress GOP turnout, per WIRED.
• Demoralization operation — Trump's own phrasing, used in a Truth Social post WIRED cited, to describe polling he says is designed to discourage Republican voters from showing up.
• Election denial — the unsubstantiated claim, which WIRED traces to Trump's posts following his 2020 loss, that US elections are compromised by fraud; WIRED notes hundreds of GOP candidates for federal and statewide office this cycle have expressed doubts about election integrity.

What should voters watch for before November?

• Whether Republican campaign committees continue shifting money into races WIRED and Reuters describe as previously "safe," a sign strategists are acting on the polling even as surrogates call it fake.
• Whether Trump's rate of calling polls "fake" — 39 times since January 2026 per Media Matters, with nine in August — accelerates closer to Election Day.
• Whether prominent figures who have conceded the numbers reflect real problems, as WIRED notes some MAGA commentators have done regarding gas prices and other economic complaints, grow in number or get drowned out by "psyop" framing from Bannon, Keshel, and Catturd.
• Whether the White House responds on the record; WIRED reported it did not answer a request for comment on the aides' private concerns.

Has Trump offered evidence that the polls are fake?

WIRED's reporting does not cite any evidence Trump or his allies have presented to support the claim; the characterization has been limited to statements like "The polls are fake" and social media posts calling the data a "psyop" or "demoralization operation."