Trump’s tumbling poll numbers leave CNN data guru stunned
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CNN’s Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten was left stunned Tuesday by President Donald Trump’s tumbling approval rating ahead of the November midterms.
Appearing on News Central with anchor John Berman, Enten highlighted the latest Reuters-Ipsos survey that put the president’s approval rating at just 31 percent — the lowest recorded across either of his two terms.
“I mean this is a five-alarm Trumpster fire, that’s what we’re talking about,” Enten said.
The analyst noted that Trump began his first term with a net approval rating of plus six percentage points. That figure is now minus 35 points.
“Among independents, he’s 54 points underwater,” Enten added. “I mean this is down there with Jacques Cousteau and The Little Mermaid. This is how low Trump is right now.”
“Is this some kind of anomaly?” Berman asked.
“It is not some type of anomaly,” Enten replied. “This has been happening over and over and over and over again. Oops, I did it again if you’re President Trump.”
Looking for historical parallels, Enten said the closest comparison was Democratic President Harry Truman, whose net approval rating stood at minus 30 points in October 1946, ahead of that year’s midterm elections. Democrats went on to lose their majorities in both the House and the Senate that year.
Trump’s approval rating has languished near historic lows for months, and multiple polls suggest the Republican Party could face steep losses in the midterms, potentially losing majorities in the House and the Senate.
Historically, the president’s party tends to lose seats in Congress in the midterms and Trump has acknowledged this trend.
“For whatever reason, I don’t understand it, nobody does. Nobody’s been able to explain it. Whoever wins the presidency, Republican or Democrat, automatically does poorly in the midterms,” he told reporters earlier this month.
The president’s declining popularity comes amid voter frustration over the cost of living and the Iran war, which has stretched on for seven months with no clear end in sight.
Despite warning signs, Trump has appeared publicly bullish about his party’s prospects, touting GOP candidates as hard to beat at rallies across the country. “All you have to do is turn out. If you turn out, we win,” he told supporters in Kansas Monday.
He has also vowed to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of both chambers of Congress, and has claimed, without evidence, that Democrats will cheat.
According to an Ipsos poll released this week, a large majority of Americans do not believe Trump would accept the results of the midterm elections if Republicans suffer losses.
