Trump Touts Fox News Chart Showing U.S. Poverty Rate at Record Low

Trump shares a Fox News graphic citing Census Bureau data that frames the official U.S. poverty rate, tracked since 1959, as reaching a record low through 2025.

First Published: September 17, 2026, 6:16 PM ET

WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald J. Trump amplified a Fox News broadcast graphic that framed the official U.S. poverty rate as hitting a record low, sharing the on-screen chart with his followers on Truth Social. The image, drawn from “The Will Cain Show,” cited the U.S. Census Bureau as its data source.

Here is the full post on truthsocial: “LIVE U.S. POVERTY RATE AT RECORD LOW OFFICIAL POVERTY RATE, ALL PEOPLE, 1959-2025 FOX NEWS channel 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 U.S. CENSUS BUREAU THE WILL CAIN SHOW” on September 17, 2026 at 6:11 PM ET.

This is Trump’s 9th message released today, and the last post was 0 minutes ago, and it is not part of a thread. On average, Trump produces 18 posts per day since his inauguration on January 20, 2025. The move fits a broader pattern in Trump’s recent messaging, with 43 of his 569 posts over the last 30 days classified as Economy posts.

The graphic showed a blue line chart tracking the official poverty rate for all people from 1959 through 2025. The vertical axis ran from 5% to 25%, and the horizontal axis marked years in five-year increments from 1965 to 2025. A red “LIVE” banner sat in the top corner as a male presenter gestured toward the display. The line trended downward across the decades with periodic fluctuations, ending at a lower point on the right side of the frame.

The chart the presenter displayed traces more than six decades of readings, a span the bureau describes as its historical poverty series covering people and families according to census.gov. Comparing a single year against that full record is the mechanism behind any “record low” framing, because the official measure has been calculated on a consistent basis over the period shown on screen. The same annual estimates are redistributed through independent data platforms, including the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which carries poverty series running from 1959 to 2025 according to fred.stlouisfed.

For the average U.S. household, the official poverty rate helps determine eligibility thresholds and the design of federal assistance programs, since the same estimates feed into government decision-making according to census.gov. A lower reading, as the broadcast asserts, would signal that a smaller share of Americans fell below the official income threshold in the years plotted on the chart. The official measure remains the most-cited yardstick for tracking hardship in the United States, which is widely described as the richest country in the world according to debt.

The post carried no additional commentary from Trump beyond the broadcast text and image. It named Fox News, the Census Bureau and “The Will Cain Show” as the elements visible in the shared frame, without further claims from the account itself.