Don Jr. Shared A Photoshopped Poll That Made His Dad Look Good — Then Deleted It

President Trump's approval ratings are lower than Barack Obama's were at this point in his presidency — but don't tell that to the president's eldest son. In an Instagram post that was quickly torn to shreds by fact-checkers, Don Jr. shared a Trump vs. Obama poll on Thursday that was Photoshopped to make his dad's approval ratings look better than they actually are. He deleted it on Friday, but has not informed his 1.2 million followers that it was factually incorrect.

The image Don Jr. shared was a doctored version of a screenshot from a CNN segment about Trump and Obama's approval ratings. The original broadcast correctly noted that while Trump's job approval currently stands at 40 percent, according to Gallup, Obama's approval rating was 45 percent at this point in his presidency.

The doctored version of the image that the president's son shared, however, falsely said that Trump's approval rating is currently at 50 percent.

"Amazing," Don Jr. wrote under the edited image. "I guess there is a magic wand to make things happen and @realdonaldtrump seems to have it. #maga #amreicafirst [sic]." He deleted it on Friday

In actuality, Trump hasn't had a 50 percent approval rating in Gallup's polls at any point in his presidency, and his current approval of 40 percent is the highest he's had since September 2017, according to Gallup's three-day rolling average.

Obama's approval rating fluctuated wildly throughout his presidency, but by the time he left office, it stood at 59 percent, according to Gallup. His standing in the eyes of Americans has improved since he left office: In a February 2018 poll, Obama was given a "retrospective" job approval rating of 63 percent.

Trump, by contrast, is an historically unpopular president. With the exception of the first two weeks of his presidency, he has never once had a net positive approval rating, according to FiveThirtyEight's polling average. That average also shows that, on every day of Trump's presidency and without exception, his average approval rating has been lower than Obama's was at that point in his presidency.

Many people on social media — including some commenters on Don Jr.'s Instagram post — noted that the doctored image the president's son shared was not particularly well edited. The original CNN broadcast displayed Trump's true approval rating in white letters against a translucent red background; in the Photoshopped version, a much darker red square is visible around the false approval rating, and traces of Trump's true 40 percent approval rating can be seen behind it if one looks closely at the image. The font is also different.

According to the Washington Post, the Photoshop was posted by the Instagram user @thepatriotsupplyco hours before Don Jr. published it to his own feed.

“Trumps [sic] doing big things people!," @thepatriotsupplyco originally wrote, according to the Post. "No one can take him down!” They have since deleted the image, however.

Before Don Jr. removed the Photoshopped image from his feed, it had gained over 100,000 likes, according to the Post.