Watch any cable or network news station or read the newspaper, and you will be told that President Trump is unpopular.  That Americans don't like him.

The Washington Post proclaims that "Trump is historically unpopular."  Predicting big trouble ahead for Republicans, the Post tells readers, "There's never been a president who was as deeply unpopular for as long as he has been at this stage of his presidency."

Newsweek goes farther with its headline: "Trump's 2018 approval ratings show he's the most unpopular president in history and failing at his job."

The Washington Examiner, not a far-left publication but firmly in the NeverTrump camp, asks, "So why is Trump still the most unpopular first-term president?"

You get the point.  These articles were all written last month, in the wake of a historic tax cut, with millions of Americans gaining bonuses and a fatter paycheck, plus a stock market hitting record highs despite a recent and necessary correction.

Yet the media smart set is quite certain that America hates President Trump.  Why?  Opinion polls.  You know the names.  Quinnipiac, Ipsos, Rasmussen, CNN, Fox News, and others.

Remember these same polls about 15 months ago?  The ones that predicted with 95-plus-percent certainty that Hillary Clinton would win the election?  Even on election day?

Across the pond, the Independent, three days before the election, gleefully pronounced, "Hillary Clinton has 'more than 99% chance' of winning election over Donald Trump."  How did that turn out?

Why should we believe these polls now?  Certainly not the wildly inaccurate ones.

Rasmussen claimed to be the most accurate pollster of the 2016 election, based on the Real Clear Politics poll tracking.  What does Rasmussen say today?

The company has a Daily Presidential Tracking Poll, telling us how popular or unpopular the president is on a day-by-day basis, on a Wednesday as compared to a Tuesday or Friday.

On Wednesday February 21, days after the horrific school shooting in Florida, Rasmussen reported, "48% of Likely U.S. voters approve of President Trump's job performance.  Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove."

That's upside-down by a few points, but focus on the 48 percent approval rating.  How do those numbers compare to Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama?

Newsweek has a predictable answer: "Obama more popular than Trump after first year, no matter what President tweets."  What does Rasmussen say?

Let's look at its Obama Approval Index History.  If I found it, the investigative sleuths at Newsweek, who, unlike me, are professional journalists, could have found it.  Each day during the Obama presidency, Rasmussen chronicled the Obama approval and disapproval numbers.

Let's look at February 21, 2010, the same point in time to the day for Obama as now is for Trump, 13 months into their respective presidencies.  Hope and change was well underway.  It was a year into the promised "fundamental transformation of America."

President Obama's "total approve" number was 45 percent – three percentage points lower than President Trump's number at the same point in their respective presidencies.  Anyone hear that on the evening news?  Crickets...

Remember CNN's Wolf Blitzer reporting President George W. Bush's falling approval numbers in his second term?  Rush Limbaugh chronicled this in a audio montage, if you want a reminder: "Wolf Blitzer orgasmic over George W. Bush's sinking poll numbers."

Let's look at the Rasmussen numbers a different way: the approval index, or the difference between "strongly approve" and "strongly disapprove."  This is a good barometer of the divide between love and hate, leaving out the wishy-washy middle, who base their opinion on what a neighbor or the mailman thinks of the president on any particularly day.

Trump's approval index on February 21 was minus 12, compared to Obama at minus 19 on the same day eight years ago.  Seven percent more likely voters "strongly disapproved" of President Obama compared to President Trump.

Left-wing media won't let facts get in the way of their narrative, however.  The Independent, which would be better renamed "the Liberal," just two days before the Rasmussen poll, told readers, "Donald Trump ranked worst president in U.S. history by nearly 200 political scientists."

I wonder if these are the same "scientists" who are part of the global warming "consensus."  Or the ones who are quite certain, in their professional opinion, that Trump is demented, senile, and psychotic.

Too bad Wolf Blitzer and his gang of fellow Trump-haters at CNN can't honestly report the news, even if they personally don't like it.  Everything for them is scripted, just as it was for the recent CNN town hall on guns.

The script is that Donald Trump is a pig.  He wants school kids to be shot.  He likes dirty air and water.  He hates women.  And so on.

The reality is that many Americans like President Trump and his presidency.  CNN and other news outlets can bury their ostrich heads in the sand and pretend otherwise, but at their peril.

The 2018 midterms are rapidly approaching.  Despite what the naysayers say, the advantage is with the GOP.  Whether they take advantage and really want to retain control of Congress is another matter and a subject for a future article.

Ignoring reality, which is the modus operandi of big media, may again blow up in their faces.

Brian C Joondeph, M.D., MPS is a Denver-based physician and writer.  Follow him on Facebook,  LinkedIn, and Twitter.