US President Donald Trump launched another attack on former media ally Fox News on Friday, criticising the news company's polling team, following a survey which shows the incumbent president losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden by an 8 point gap.
Trump attacked the network in a tweet, criticizing the media outlet by invoking the name of deceased CEO Roger Ailes who, the president implies, is sadly "looking down" on his "once beautiful creation".
In another tweet, the president demanded that Fox News fire what he characterized as the network's "fake pollster", declaring that he has never had a good Fox poll. Trump included previous polls from the 2016 election which showed his then-Democratic rival Hillary Clinton holding a 10-point lead before losing the November 2016 election.
The survey, released Friday, showed former Vice President Joe Biden with an 8 percent lead over Trump. Those polled gave a 48 percent intention to vote for Biden, 40 percent for Trump with 11 percent undecided.
The new poll suggested a surge of support for the former vice president, who last month was said to be tied with Trump at 42 percent. While the president does not currently lead in any major national poll, CNBC and CNN give Biden a much thinner lead of 3 and 5 percentage points, respectively.
The Fox poll suggests that Trump's favorability rating is dropping, with 43 percent of voters having a positive opinion of the president, compared to 55 percent who hold a negative view.
Biden's favorability has maintained a stable rating with 48 percent favorability for the presumptive Democratic nominee and a 46 percent disapproving.
The poll comes as Trump's approval rating has dropped amid his handling of the coronavirus, which surveys demonstrate is looked at poorly by most Americans.
An ABC poll on Friday suggested that nearly 60 percent of US adults disapprove of the president's response to the pandemic.
Polling remains a contentious issue in the United States. Throughout the 2016 presidential election, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton held a decisive lead over then-candidate Trump.
Biden has seen a striking comeback in public opinion during the Democratic primary contest for the nomination, after a collapse in support during the first state elections to then-frontrunner Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Despite losing the popular vote by over 3 million ballots, Trump would go on to win the electoral college and be elected the 46th president of the United States.