A favorite Joe Scarborough parlor game is to exult in problematic poll numbers for Republicans. He’s been at it for years. The Morning Joe host was back at it on Monday’s show, devoting a big chunk of the first half-hour to reveling in the latest polls.
Analogizing President Trump to Al Capone, Scarborough went so far as to suggest that people who refuse to admit to pollsters that Trump is enriching himself at public expense should be ashamed of themselves in front of their children and dog.
Scarborough opened by citing an NBC poll putting Trump at 34 percent approval and a Washington Post/Ipsos survey at 33 percent. Grim details were flaunted: economic approval at 28 percent, three-in-four Americans disapproving of his handling of inflation and the cost of living, 82 percent saying their finances are the same or worse than a year ago, and just 18 percent saying better.
Scarborough announced that "while Russia, his position on Russia is not helping him, man, it is cost that's killing him, maybe politically." His wife Mika underlined it: "I mean, no matter where you go, whether it's a gas pump, the drugstore, the grocery store, the doctor, if you can get to one, people are hurting."
Scarborough’s Got Poll Numbers On The Noggin https://t.co/THva5o79pK
— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) October 19, 2026
The NBC poll also found that 52 percent of Americans think the Trump administration is more corrupt than previous ones. That figure struck Scarborough as suspiciously low. “Only 52-- really? A guy that makes billions of dollars and his children make billions of dollars off? Really?”
When The Post finding that 66 percent believe Trump was “using the presidency to enrich himself” was noted, Scarborough zeroed in on the holdouts and flung insults:
You embarrass yourself, you shame yourself, you humiliate yourself in front of your children and your little dog when you tell a pollster, no, I don’t think Donald Trump is using the presidency to enrich himself. I would love to hear what you had to say about Al Capone.
So many statistics! Will there be a quiz at the end of the segment? But Eugene Robinson and Scarborough helpfully summed things up for for those who were bad at numbers:
ROBINSON: Well, unless every single law of political gravity has been repealed, which is a possibility, but unless that is the case, it is awful news for Republicans.
SCARBOROUGH: If you ever find yourself in a position as a Republican where Americans trust Democrats more on the economy than you, you’re in big trouble, especially this Democratic Party right now. So yeah, I mean, these numbers are absolutely staggering and very bad for Republicans.
Scarborough’s enthusiasm for this latest batch of numbers is nothing new. Bad news for Republicans reliably draws the full Scarborough treatment—dramatic readings, moralizing asides, and warnings of political doom.
But the Al Capone comparison and the suggestion that dissenting respondents should feel shame before their kids and pets was next-level pandering to his liberal audience.
Scarborough offered a textbook example of how—if not to lie with statistics—to bend them to your purposes.
He used the numbers you see here to say “82 percent of Americans say their finances are the same or worse today than they were just one year ago.”
He could just as easily have said: “Well over half of Americans feel their finances are as good, or better, than they were a year ago.”
The Transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MS NOW
Morning Joe
10/19/26
6:01 am EDTJOE SCARBOROUGH: We've got two polls out. I think it's, it's NBC poll has him at 34 percent, a Washington Post poll has him at 33 percent. And there, while Russia, his position on Russia is not helping him, man, it is cost [i.e. of gas, food, etc.] that's killing him, maybe politically.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I mean, no matter where you go, whether it's a gas pump, the drugstore, the grocery store, the doctor, if you can get to one, people are hurting.
And it is bearing out in the numbers. New polling shows President Trump's approval rating has fallen to a new low. According to the latest Washington Post Ipsos poll, Trump's approval now stands at 33 percent, lower in this poll than at any point during his first term.
The economy, as we said, remains a major issue for the president and his party. Trump's economic approval rating has fallen to 28 percent, down from 33 percent in July. About three in four Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of inflation and the cost of living.
A new poll from NBC News found that 82 percent of Americans say their finances are the same or worse today than they were just one year ago. Just 18 percent say their finances are better.
The NBC poll also found that 52 percent of Americans think the Trump administration is more corrupt than previous administrations.
SCARBOROUGH: Only 52 percent? I, I know that along with about the same, but th- really? A guy that makes billions of dollars and his children make billions of dollars off of. 50? Really?
MIKA: I think this matters, and it connects directly with how people are feeling about their own finances.
That echoes a finding from the Washington Post, a survey that found 66 percent of Americans believe Trump is, quote, using the presidency to enrich himself. That's up from 52 percent last fall.
SCARBOROUGH: Again, look at those 32 percent. You embarrass yourself, you shame yourself, you humiliate yourself in front of your children and your little dog when you tell a pollster, no, I don't think Donald Trump is using the presidency to enrich himself. I would love to hear what you had to say about Al Capone.
That number, a staggering 18 percent, as low of a number as I could ever imagine. What does that mean for the elections coming up in a few weeks?
EUGENE ROBINSON: Well, unless every single law of political gravity has been repealed, which is a possibility, but unless that is the case, it is awful news for Republicans.
. . .
SCARBOROUGH: Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. If you ever find yourself in a position as a Republican where Americans trust Democrats more on the economy than you, you're in big trouble, especially this Democratic Party right now.
So yeah, I mean, these numbers are absolutely staggering and very bad for Republicans.
. . .
