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CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten was stunned Tuesday by President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval rating heading into the November midterm elections.
Appearing on News center with anchor John Berman, Enten highlighted the latest Reuters-Ipsos survey that puts the president’s approval rating at just 31 percent – the lowest recorded during 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 more than six percentage points. This figure is now minus 35 points.
“Among independents, he’s 54 points underwater,” Enten added. “I mean, it’s up there with Jacques Cousteau and The Little Mermaid. That’s how low Trump is right now.”
“Is this some kind of anomaly?” » asked Berman.
“It’s not some kind of anomaly,” Enten replied. “This happened 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 to Democratic President Harry Truman, whose net approval rating was minus 30 points in October 1946, before that year’s midterm elections. Democrats lost their majorities in the House and Senate that year.
Trump’s approval rating is near an all-time low in months, and several polls suggest the Republican Party could suffer heavy losses in the midterms, potentially losing majorities in the House and Senate.
Historically, the president’s party tends to lose congressional seats in midterms, and Trump has acknowledged that trend.
“For some reason I don’t understand it, no one understands it. No one has 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 decline in popularity comes amid voter frustration over the cost of living and the war in Iran, which has lasted seven months with no clear end in sight.
Despite the warning signs, Trump has been publicly optimistic about his party’s prospects, calling Republican candidates tough to beat at rallies across the country. “All you have to do is participate. If you participate, we will win,” he told supporters in Kansas on Monday.
He also pledged to send $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans maintain control of both houses of Congress, and claimed, without evidence, that Democrats would cheat.
According to an Ipsos poll released this week, a large majority of Americans do not believe that Trump would accept the results of the midterm elections if the Republicans suffered losses.
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