GOP verges on 'post-Watergate' approval thanks to Trump toxicity: Republican

President Donald Trump's approval rating continues to find new lows once thought impossible, and as one former Republican lawmaker told CNN, this has made the midterm environment as bad for the GOP as it was "post-Watergate."

On Tuesday, CNN data guru Harry Enten broke down a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, which put Trump's approval rating at 33 percent, compared to a 64 percent disapproval rating, putting him a staggering 31 points underwater, comparable to the worst days for former President George W. Bush. This also marked a major tumble in popularity overall for Trump, as the same poll put his approval 6 points above water at the start of his second term.

"You know, if this were a game of limbo, President Trump would be winning," Enten said. "Unfortunately, this is the game of presidential popularity, and he is reaching record lows yet again. He is losing."

Following that breakdown from Enten, host John Berman discussed the situation with Francis Rooney, the former Republican congressman from Florida who also served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See under Bush. Rooney echoed comments from earlier in the broadcast, calling Republicans "sclerotic," or slow and stuck in their ways, considering that they "will still follow this guy after all the ridiculous things he's done."

"But then, on the other hand, I think they've lost moderates, Reagan, Bush republicans, and that's going to tell the tale when they show up or whether they don't show up; they're going to have a major impact on this election," Rooney said. "We could be in post-Watergate country now."

"You think the environment for Republicans might be as it was after Watergate in 1974?" Berman asked, evoking the time when former President Richard Nixon's scandals soured the country on Republican leadership.

"I think it could be, from what I'm reading about the polls and hearing around the country in different races and things," Rooney responded.

Berman brought up comments from West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice, who argued that Republicans need to pay more attention to the issues, like affordability, that voters really care about. Justice also said that some of those issues have been worsened by Trump's Iran war.

"I think it's a lot broader than just the war in Iran," Rooney said. "I think we have an administration and a president that really don't understand what drives and motivates your average American, your average person, who they don't have any connection with because they're all billionaires. [An average voter] cares about what his groceries cost, his car costs, his gasoline cost and his house mortgage cost. And none of those are going the right way. And they were not going the right way before Iran. But the gas part of it is, is significantly exacerbated after Iran."