WASHINGTON, DC, USA (AP) — President Donald Trump is claiming a groundswell of African American support in response to his comments denigrating Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings and the congressman’s majority-black Baltimore district, despite polling showing consistently negative numbers.

Speaking to reporters as he left the White House yesterday, Trump claimed the building had been flooded with thousands of letters, emails and phone calls after his criticism of Baltimore, thanking him for “getting involved” and exposing corruption.

“They really appreciate what I’m doing, and they’ve let me know it,” said the Republican president. The White House did not immediately provide any evidence backing up Trump’s claims.

Trump’s comments came in response to fierce backlash against his earlier remarks lashing out at Cummings, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and calling his district a “disgusting, rat-and rodent-infested mess”. Trump also is under fire for his ongoing attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of colour, who he tweeted should “go back” to their countries — even though three of the four were born in the United States and all are US citizens.

But Trump yesterday, nonetheless, declared himself “the least racist person” in the world, despite his recent comments and racist tweets. And he said “African American people love the job” he’s doing, despite the fact that numerous polls have shown African Americans are overwhelmingly negative in their assessments of his performance.

Approval among black Americans has hovered around 10 per cent over the course of Trump’s presidency, according to Gallup polling, with eight per cent approving in June. And a new Quinnipiac University poll out yesterday found that 80 per cent of registered African American voters think Trump is racist, versus 11 per cent who think he’s not.

Polling also suggests his recent attacks could hurt Trump with suburban voters — and especially women — whom he may need to win next year. Trump in recent days, however, has expressed to advisers on his re-election team that he believes his broadsides against the minority Democrats will help excite his core supporters.

Trump insisted yesterday that there was “zero strategy” in his attacks and that he was only “pointing out facts”, even as he argued they were benefiting him.

“I think I’m helping myself because I’m pointing out the tremendous corruption that’s taking place in Baltimore and other Democratic-run cities,” Trump said, as he continued to hammer his criticism.

“Those people are living in hell in Baltimore,” he said, adding he was open to some kind of unspecified federal involvement.

“If they ask,” he said, “we will get involved.”