The late-night host has a 16-point lead over the president, according to a recent YouGov poll.

Jimmy Kimmel; President Donald Trump.Credit: Randy Holmes/ABC; Chip Somodevilla/Getty

 

Jimmy Kimmel is celebrating a win over Donald Trump.

 

During Monday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, the late-night host took a moment in his opening monologue to taunt the president by citing a recent YouGov poll that revealed he had the higher approval rating between them.

 

“According to a new poll from YouGov, which is a serious polling site — or they were before this — I am more popular than the president of the United States,” Kimmel declared as the studio audience cheered.

 

“You remember the guy who keeps saying I have no ratings? Well, that makes two of us.”

 

Jimmy Kimmel on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’.Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty

 

Kimmel went on to explain that more than a thousand individuals were tapped for the poll, which revealed that he is beating Trump in favorability by a total of 16 points.

 

(Participants had a 44 percent favorable and 41 percent unfavorable opinion of Kimmel, trumping Trump’s own 41 percent favorable and 54 percent unfavorable rating.)

 

“Which is nice,” Kimmel acknowledged, “but feels like considering the fact I’m not a convicted felon, friend of Jeffrey Epstein, I’ve never paid off a porn star or sent a team of masked goons into a park to pull an old lady away from her grandchildren, I feel like my rating should be higher, maybe?”

 

He added, “At this point, finding a toenail in your salad has a seven point lead over Donald Trump.”

 

While Kimmel joked that he hoped Trump didn’t see the polls so that they didn’t hurt his feelings, he suggested that president may have already heard the news because of a statement that was issued by the White House on Monday.

 

“This is a real statement: ‘Over 77 million Americans showed up on Election Day to cast their ballots for President Donald J. Trump, who is delivering on his overwhelming mandate to put America first.

 

Jimmy Kimmel prays every night to garner a fraction of that support to keep his show on air after ratings dropped 64 percent last week. Sad!’” Kimmel read. “I like ‘sad’ with an exclamation point. It would make a nice shirt with Trump’s face on it, wouldn’t it?”

 

He continued, “You know what else is sad? That the president of the United States has a lower approval rating than Diddy and diarrhea. That’s what’s sad.”

 

Kimmel followed up his quips by sharing a suggestion on how Trump could potentially improve his approval numbers moving forward. “I have an idea: release the Epstein files,” he said.

 

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to the White House for comment.

 

Both Trump and Vice President JD Vance have repeatedly claimed that Kimmel’s show has bad ratings, despite the host’s return from his September suspension actually earning him his highest ratings in over a decade.

 

Last week, Kimmel reacted to Vance’s Fox News interview in which the Hillbilly Elegy author claimed Jimmy Kimmel Live was pulled from the airwaves due to being unfunny and “because his ratings aren’t very good.”

 

“My ratings aren’t very good!?” Kimmel responded on his show. “Last time I checked, your ratings are somewhere between a hair in your salad and chlamydia.”

 

Trump, who has suggested revoking TV licenses from networks that are “against” him, also slammed ABC for reinstating Kimmel after his temporary suspension.

 

“Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE,” the former reality star wrote. He later added, “Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”

Watch Kimmel celebrate his positive ratings in the clip above.