Meanings
- humorouspluralplural onlyslanggovernmentAn overwhelming level of support in a political poll or election.
[Gretchen] Whitmer posting Assad numbers in Detroit
2022 November 9, u/Benyeti, “[Megathread] 2022 US Midterm Elections”, in r/neoliberal (Reddit post), archived from the original on 18 Aug 20262 more examples
I'm a pollster and used to be in politics. Every once in a while we'd have a candidate getting 80%+ in a poll (usually in a primary of something), which we'd call "Saddam Hussein numbers." Guess Assad numbers are next level.
[2021 May 31, @RHAPollster, Twitter (post), archived from the original on 18 Aug 2026A running joke is that candidates endorsed by D.S.A. regularly "do Assad numbers"—a reference to Bashar al-Assad, the former Syrian dictator—as if it were no contest.
2026 January 6, Naaman Zhou, “How Did Astoria Become So Socialist?”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Aug 2026
Origin
A reference to elections won by Bashar al-Assad (Syrian convicted fugitive and former President of Syria from 2000 to 2024), which were widely regarded as fraudulent. The earliest known usage of the term appears shortly after the 2021 Syrian presidential election in which Assad was reported to have garnered 95.19% of the vote.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Assad numbers. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Assad%20numbers
“Assad numbers.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Assad%20numbers. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Assad numbers,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Assad%20numbers.
Source: Assad numbers on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.