President Donald Trump sent out a tweet Monday insisting he is ahead in surveys against Democratic presidential candidates, even though internal polling by his own re-election campaign showed he is behind former Vice President Joe Biden in several battleground states.
"Only Fake Polls show us behind the Motley Crew," Trump wrote. "We are looking really good, but it is far too early to be focused on that. Much work to do!"
Trump's comment came a day after he reportedly fired three pollsters following the leak of the 17-state survey which showed him behind in the race in numerous crucial places, according to Politico.
Trump last week denied the "phony polls" existed, insisting "we are winning in every single state that we've polled."
CNN reported Trump has been angry for several days about the internal polls leaked to the media.
Although his campaign has publicly pushed back against the surveys, saying they are weeks old and do not reflect the current reality, a person familiar with the situation told CNN those denials had less to do with the quality of the polls than about pacifying the president.