'Losing faith': GOP pollster says no one 'can understate how bad' Trump’s popularity is on economy

15 April 2025

President Donald Trump in Rome, Georgia on March 9, 2024 (Phil Mistry/Shutterstock.com)

Tuesday morning, April 15 on CNN, polling analyst Harry Enten detailed President Donald Trump's plummeting support among independents.

When it comes to handling the economy, Enten stressed, Trump went from +1 approval in January among independents to -29 in mid-April — a drop of 30 points.

Later that morning, CNN's John Berman discussed those numbers with former GOP strategist/pollster Lee Carter, who didn't mince words and stressed that the 30-point drop is terrible news for Trump.

Carter told Berman and CNN pundit Karen Finney, "Well, it's significant, and I don't think anyone can understate how bad this is for this president. The independents were the ones that gave him the benefit of the doubt and really brought him to victory. We knew he was going to win with Republicans. We knew he wasn't going to win with Democrats, and independents are what put him over the edge. And now, they're losing faith in what they said the number one issue was, which was the economy."

Carter continued, "I think what's also really damning in these polls is that for the first time in — I don't know, more than a decade — we're seeing that the Democrats are being viewed more favorably…. So, the Republicans have really lost the benefit of the doubt. I mean, we've been talking about this for a little while. I said he's probably got about two months of the benefit of the doubt. He's lost it."

The former GOP strategist and pollster cited Trump's steep new tariffs as a key factor in his sinking poll numbers among independents.

Carter told Berman and Finney, "I think the tariffs situation, the market volatility, has really, really given people pause — a lot of fear out there. When you look at consumer confidence, it is way, way down. And so, these next 90 days are going to be critical."

Watch the full video below or at this link.

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