Today's Poll Question: Should Trump have called FIFA to review the Balogun suspension? artwork

Today's Poll Question: Should Trump have called FIFA to review the Balogun suspension?

The Smerconish Podcast

July 6, 2026

Today's Poll Question at Smerconish.com: Should President Trump have called FIFA to review the suspension of Flo Balogun? Michael Smerconish explains why one controversial World Cup decision has become a much larger debate about politics, sports, and presidential influence.
Speakers: Michael Smerconish, Angie Hicks
**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
Get ready to vote on today's daily poll question at smerconish.com.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:05)
But first, Michael explains it for you right here.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:08)
Welcome to The Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:11)
For Independent Minds.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:13)
Hello, hello.

**Michael Smerconish** (0:14)
Hi, gang. Today is Monday. It is the 6th of July. Summer is flying by.
I am on fumes. I've never said this before. I'm on fumes because I stayed up watching a soccer match. England and Mexico, amazing, nail-biting, 3-2 final. The famed Azteca, I think Mexico, I heard this said last night, had only lost 2 of 89 competitive games at the Azteca Fortress. And I looked at the screen at a certain point, it was still like 90 degrees outside in Philly. The storm had yet to break the weather. And it's reporting that it's 60 degrees in Mexico. I'm like, how the hell can this be the case? Well, because it was 7,000 feet in the air that they were playing. And here was England, down a man, now set to play Norway. I watched that amazing victory over Brazil at MetLife, or whatever they're calling it this week, this month.
And then tonight, you've got the USA and Belgium amidst controversy, Flo Balogun having been restored to play after President Trump made the call, or as I describe it, there have now been two bad calls. But that is today's poll question. And I saw the result before I began recording. And as I tweeted earlier this morning, to those who are voting no, and I get it, believe me, I get it, on the question of whether President Trump should have made that call to FIFA, there's a fix.
Actually, there are two fixes. One is that Maurizio Pocatino can sit Balogun tonight. Right? If you don't want the so-called asterisk, then sit him.
And there's a second fix. No, it's not that Trump can make another call. It's that Balogun himself can say, I'm not playing. But neither of those is going to happen.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:15)
This Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

**Michael Smerconish** (2:18)
Obviously, you can tell I am totally into this world soccer excitement, if I can say it that way.
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**SPEAKER_1** (4:10)
The Daily Poll Question at smerconish.com, a non-scientific social political question designed to spark broader discussions about current issues.

**SPEAKER_2** (4:18)
Get ready to cast your ballot and leave a rating and review of this podcast on your favorite podcast app.

**Michael Smerconish** (4:25)
A lot of interesting vote results during the course of the long weekend. Going back to Thursday, more than 32,000, just a tick under 33,000 voted. Is Mark Halpern right? Do only those on the left care that Trump got richer while in office? I'm surprised by the margin. 50.63 to 49.37. Thought that would have been much more lopsided with people saying, no, everybody cares, but that's not the way the vote turned out. Friday, going into the holiday weekend, 29,146. Should US citizenship require allegiance or just being born here? 61.59% said birth, 38.41% said allegiance. So roughly a 60-40 divide. By the way, on birthright citizenship, going back to today's poll question, Flo Balogun was or is a US citizen by virtue of birthright citizenship, which is kind of an interesting twist that President Trump, you know, came to his aid. I'll get back to that in just a moment. Huge vote on Saturday, 49,318.

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