Donald Trump Insiders Say Poll Slump Has Him Retreating Into White House Pet Projects

President Donald Trump’s bad polling numbers are reportedly competing for attention with ballroom plans, statues and a proposed triumphal arch, and they’re losing.

A Trump insider told Axios that the president has retreated into “the hobbies that distract from his terrible polling numbers, about which he is in denial.” The report lands as Trump’s approval has fallen to 32 percent in a recent Quinnipiac survey, the lowest mark of his political career.

The same poll found that 68 percent of voters believe Trump is not paying enough attention to the issues affecting most households.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said on a recent podcast appearance that roughly 70 percent of Trump’s mental bandwidth is going toward construction projects and statuary.

“It’s a legacy thing,” she said.

Trump has reportedly been spending time showing guests drawings of a planned White House ballroom, a model of his proposed Triumphal Arch, designs for Dulles International Airport, a new Air Force One and a South Lawn helipad.

“It's shades of Richard Nixon in the closing days of his Administration,” said Christopher Lee, founder of Foresight Strategic Advisors. “Nixon became psychologically detached from the Congressional investigation closing in on him.”

Trump’s war in Iran, tariffs and monument-building have all tested poorly, while Reuters polling found voters are now evenly split on which party is better at handling fiscal responsibility, erasing a nine-year Republican advantage.

“For a narcissist who lives off adulation, false or otherwise, this is a massive blow to his psyche,” Lee suggested. “His go-to move is to ignore the bad polls and hype polling sources whose notoriously weak methodology rivals a Buzzfeed quiz. However, even those polls are showing a presidency in free fall.”

Republican leaders, meanwhile, are reportedly frustrated that roughly $400 million remains unused in Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC as vulnerable races approach.

“This White House's messaging, strategic planning, management and Hill relationships have always been messy at best. Now it's bordering on complete collapse,” Lee noted. “The GOP on the Hill is bracing for a November meltdown worse than anything in the party's history.”

Senior congressional Republicans told Axios their internal numbers point to possible losses in the House and Senate. Some have urged Trump to focus on affordability, though they privately doubt he will make that pivot.

“His staff is notoriously weak and disturbingly sycophantic … when you are afraid to confront a boss who has checked out like a guest in one of his hotels — the problems multiply exponentially,” Lee said.

“This is a ship of state utterly rudderless,” he added. “And the captain has locked himself in his stateroom because he doesn't want to admit his passengers don't like him and some of his crew are on the verge of mutiny.”