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CNN guru aghast GOP parading a Trump 'more underwater than the Titanic'

CNN polling analyst Harry Enten could not understand the logic behind Republicans’ rare mid-term convention, and he did not hold back his outrage on a panel discussing the RNC Dallas event.

“This is like bizarro land. I mean, what are we doing? A midterm convention? And we're going to put up a president in primetime who's more underwater than the Titanic,” Enten said. “You know, he's twice as unpopular as he was back in 2018. The majority of voters say that, in fact, they're less likely to vote for a candidate who's endorsed by Donald Trump.”

“Wait, what was that?” demanded CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins.

“A majority of voters say that they are less likely to vote for a candidate if they are endorsed by Donald Trump,” Enten repeated. “This was a CNBC poll. And more than that, you know, and then it's going up against … the first football game of the season. So, on one hand, they're putting this president front and center. On the other hand, they're putting it up against what is now America’s pastime.”

Collins pointed out that Trump brought “half of his administration” with him to the Wednesday convention to praise the president’s work, including hi Attorney General Todd Blanche and Vice President JD Vance — neither of whom poll particularly high among voters.

“It's not focused on Republicans that are in tight races,” Collins said.

“I have to say there's a reason this hasn't happened before,” said panelist Bill de Blasio, former Democratic mayor of New York. “It’s extremely strange. Look, if you want to do something right before the election … to really energize your base, I could see that. And if you were doing something a year out, I could see that. But I cannot understand what's going on here. And it makes me feel at times like he's given up on the midterms.”

“I mean, how many things can you do that literally are poking your own party in the eye before people say, ‘wait a minute, maybe there's actually a pattern here.’ This looks like a president who already assumes he has lost the House of Representatives, because no one in their right mind would be doing this thing right now,” de Blasio added.

“I think is also interesting that Trump still has a massive war chest that he's barely spent on these midterms,” said panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin, who worked with Trump in his first term. “He just deployed something like $10 million to Ken Paxton's [Texas Senate] race. Republicans shouldn't even have to be spending in a Texas Senate seat. So, I think a lot of Republicans around the country are like, ‘rather than do this convention, give us some money, get us on the airwaves, donate to our superPACs, not really this.’”

And Griffin agreed with Enten that it was “wild to do this the night that football is back.”

“For a man who knows TV better than probably any living president, I have to imagine he's really angry that his staff booked this night, the night that football is back.”

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Data expert reveals the Cabinet official 'hated by everyone'

CNN data analyst Harry Enten in Thursday walked through the likability problem one of President Donald Trump's top officials is facing.

As the Iran war rages onward and more and more evidence is revealed about just how badly America is fairing, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth could be caught holding the bag. Voters and defense insiders see Hegseth as putting his own personal culture-war politics, individual loyalty and public spectacle ahead of top military matters like readiness, competent management and transparent accountability.

Enten explained that Hegseth's numbers are now as low as Donald Rumsfeld's were ahead of the 2006 GOP bloodbath election in which Democrats ended the GOP control over government.

"You know, we start off the title slide asking who hates Hegseth? And basically everyone," Enten explained. "If you're the American public, no wonder, no wonder the speaker sent everybody home. Because just take a look here. Hegseth net approval: You know, back before the Iran war started back in January of 2026, right? It was minus nine points. You think that's tough?"

Hegseth is now at minus 25, which is exactly the number Rumsfeld reached just before the 2006 election. He was ultimately fired by then-President George W. Bush. Rumsfeld was dealing with the unpopular Iraq war. Rumsfeld reached an all-time low at -38 points, and Hegseth isn't there yet.

His low standing also reflects the unpopularity of the Iran war and the controversy over his treatment of senior military leaders.

Even before the war started, Enten said that Hegseth was suffering from a -20 point score. It isn't merely Democrats either, he's underwater with Independents to the tune of -43 points.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sent members home early Wednesday after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced Articles of Impeachment for the secretary.

"No wonder Speaker Johnson did not want his Republican representatives to actually have to vote on this, because if they voted with the president, they'd be voting against the American public. Because the bottom line is, Pete Hegseth is hated by basically everyone," Enten said.

Ex-Republicans Tim Miller and Bill Kristol recalled in The Bulwark podcast that ahead of the 2006 election, Bush desperately wanted to fire Rumsfeld, but decided not to, saying he didn't want to give Democrats ammunition. They both thought that was a dumb move.

"So, you see this comparison between Pete Hegseth and Donald Rumsfeld, right? And you say, okay, how are the wars actually being judged? And this, to me, is probably one of the most dangerous signals for Republicans as they head into this midterm election, because it was the Iraq War that was part of the reason that Republicans lost those House and Senate majorities," Enten recalled.

Ironically, the Iraq War wasn't that unpopular in Sept. 2006. The Iran war is a very different matter at -23 points.

"Very similar to what Pete Hegseth's own net popularity rating is. His net approval rating -23 -25," Enten continued. "The Iran war is actually a bigger drag, at least in the abstract, than the Iraq war was. And so you see this right here: You see Pete Hegseth's unpopularity."

He reiterated that this is why Republicans don't want to have to answer for Hegseth.

"And again, I just say Republican representatives do not want to have to answer for Pete Hegseth or this war when it comes to the midterm election because if they do, you can say, 'see you later. Goodbye' to that House majority, for sure. And that Senate majority may be as well. It is not good news for Republicans when it comes to this war or Pete Hegseth individually," he closed.


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Path to beat Trump runs through Dem’s 'New Southern Strategy': data expert

CNN Data analyst Harry Enten revealed that President Donald Trump is now losing the to a new "Southern Strategy."

For generations, many white Southern voters supported Democrats. But after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many opposed the national Democratic Party’s new direction. Republican candidates, especially Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon, sought the support of those voters through what became known as the “Southern Strategy.”

Campaign language shifted away from explicit talk of segregation toward issues such as “states’ rights” and “law and order.” Over the following decades, the strategy helped turn much of the South from a Democratic stronghold into a Republican one.

But new data suggests that support for the parties may be shifting again ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Democratic candidates are pulling ahead in Southern states, including Texas’ James Talarico, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), and Gov. Roy Cooper (D-N.C.). Enten said the potential Democratic gains could be “potentially historic.”

"The most wins in a year in the former Confederacy, in a midterm, is two," said Enten.

"So, in the 2000s midterm Senate races, we're looking at something historic potentially here. They're up right now in four states, the most wins in a year in the former Confederacy, in a midterm, in 2000, this century is only two. They could potentially win double the amount of races than they have in any midterm cycle this entire century in the southern United States, when you add together Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, and the great Commonwealth of Virginia," said Enten.

Co-host Sidner asked what group is pushing these candidates over the top. Enten said it was coming from white college voters.

There has been a huge demographic shift in over the past 10 years, said Enten. He showed the 2016 polls that revealed just how much ground Republicans had lost in each state.

Among white college voters, North Carolina shifted from Republicans up by 19 to Democrats up by 13. Texas has shifted from Republicans up 31 points to being up only by 1 percent. Georgia Republicans were up 41 percent, and this election hold just a 13-point lead.

"The odds are moving in the Democrats' direction. Republicans were 56 percent chance a month ago. Now it's basically dead," said Enten. "Even 51 percent chance to 49 percent chance. So Democrats are very much in the game because of these southern races."

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Republicans really wish Trump 'would keep quiet' about 1 issue: data expert

CNN data analyst Harry Enten found a buried nugget in recent numbers showing just how much even Republicans have abandoned President Donald Trump on some issues.

Speaking to host John Berman, Enten explained that it isn't merely Trump's scores on handling the war in Iran; it's just how far they've fallen in the last two years.

"You know, sometimes I look at the polling data, and I find a surprising nugget, one that I honestly didn't think existed," said Enten. "But then I dug deep enough and found it. And, you know, there was a great poll question: feelings on Trump and Iran handling Iran. You know, back in July of 2024, 53 percent of voters said they were extremely motivated to vote [also] said they were actually confident, confident that Trump would be able to handle the situation in Iran. Look at where that number is now when it comes to his approval among the same group."

According to the CNN/Pew survey, that number has fallen to 29 percent, a nearly 25 percent drop in just two years.

Enten called it a "giant fall."

"Promises were made, and promises were not kept. They were broken as far as those voters were concerned," said Enten.

Berman called it fascinating to see because Trump "would go on the stump and talk about Iran because it was a net positive issue for him now. Now, it is a negative issue."

Enten agreed, "Republicans wish he would keep quiet about it."

Taking the numbers to a deeper level, Enten explained that they aren't simply about the president, but GOP lawmakers as a whole.

"Party trusted more on wars, conflicts and terrorism: Back in January of 2025, look at this. Republicans were ahead by 18 points. A tremendous advantage. That advantage, because of President Trump, has turned into a disadvantage on a core key question that almost always favors Republicans," Enten said.

He explained that Democrats now enjoy a two-point advantage over Republicans.

"That is a 20-point move that we're seeing towards the Democrats as the Republicans go down, because down goes President Trump. They are simpatico on this one," Enten added.

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The ghost of 1932 — and the reckoning threatening to kill the GOP

I have been thinking about why Donald Trump is so unpopular. The conventional wisdom is that it's because he broke his promises – to bring down costs, to stay out of wars, to release the Epstein files. But I think it's important to focus on what's beneath that and bring it forward, and it's this: Trump lies and those who still believe his lies are increasingly few.

Consider groceries. The president has been concocting a fantasy about the cost of food going down since his return to the White House. "The prices for groceries have come way down from Biden," Trump told reporters last month. "Almost every price has come way down.” He has repeated this lie frequently, but not many seem to believe it. A new CBS News poll found that "70 percent say the president's policies are raising the cost of food and groceries, and 64 percent said the war in Iran is driving oil and gas prices much higher."

Knowing this, he has resorted to bribery. At rallies last night and over the weekend, the president repeated the offer of giving $5,000 to every adult citizen if the Republicans keep the Congress. That kind of cash might be tempting for people struggling to make ends meet, but it also depends on trusting him to follow through, which he has not done with previous offers. In any case, trust isn't showing up in polling. The AP's latest polling shows just "17 percent of US adults approve of the Republican president’s handling of the cost of living."

To be sure, Trump broke his promises, but they were lies, part of a galaxy of lies he's been telling for a decade. They were bound to catch up with him, as more people feel the consequences of believing them. It seems to me there's now a pattern in which the more he lies, the more voters distrust him, and the more voters distrust him, the more he lies. During a rally last night, Trump repeated his bribery offer: "Only I can make this promise to you," he said. "This is a big promise, but I've met so many. I've met all my promises, all my promises."

That majorities are losing faith in Donald Trump is one thing. That they are getting increasingly angry in reaction to his continued lying is another. The rage is building such that the backlash may not be limited to him but also include the political project that brought him. On Monday, CNN's Harry Enten, in noting that Trump's approval in Kansas is down by 20 points compared to the same time during his first term, said: "Donald Trump is probably at this point in his term the least popular Republican president since Herbert Hoover."

Herbert Hoover's defeat in 1932 marked the end of an era and the beginning of a long period of dominance by the Democrats under Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Hoover tried to remedy the destruction caused by the Great Depression, but his policies ended up making it worse. Not only did he lose, his party was discredited. Fair or not, his name became a byword for incompetence, greed and corruption. From his time until 1994, the Democrats controlled the House for 66 years, a period broken only by two years of GOP control in the 1950s.

I don't know if history is going to repeat itself, but it's worth noting what Hakeem Jeffries said in February. Polls were showing a swing in approval among independent voters away from Trump by more than 40 points. At the time, the House minority leader compared those numbers to "an extinction-level event." Since then, Trump launched a war against Iran, oil and diesel prices broke records, mortgage rates rose higher and inflation outpaced wages. Trump's approval rating among independent voters reflects that progression. Eight months ago, the indie swing against him was more than 40 points. Now, according to Enten, it's 99.

Roosevelt was mostly responsible for discrediting the Republicans for a generation. Trump, however, is creating potential for that by himself. On Wednesday, he said he was considering a ban on diesel exports. That came as a relief to vulnerable GOP incumbents and candidates, who are facing rage at home. Two days later, however, the president said there would be no ban. Indeed, after G7 countries in Europe said they would release some of their reserves, Reuters asked if he would still consider a ban. "We were never going to do it," he replied.

On Monday, Trump said he would consider an executive order that would suspend federal taxes on diesel. But as GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan said, that wouldn't lower prices in the long term. It could raise them, he said, as it would increase demand without increasing supply. The best solution to the energy crisis is ending the war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran's threats have driven shipping costs skyward. According to Bloomberg's Javier Blas, the daily price for hiring a supertanker to move oil through the Gulf has spiked roughly 2,500 percent. It was $50,000 a day before the war, Blas said. Now it's $1.3 million.

The war, of course, is the mother of all lies. Trump has been saying it will end from the day it started. And he keeps repeating the lie despite evidence to the contrary. Last night, in Nebraska, he vowed that the war is "essentially almost over with." Prices will fall after the midterms, he said. "It's going to end very soon, and it's going to end one way or the other."

But few believe it. The war "will carry on as it has," wrote Ali Vaez last week in Foreign Affairs. "There will not be a comprehensive resolution. There will be no lasting peace deal. ... There will be no dramatic escalation, either. Tehran and Washington won’t be defeated. Yet no one will win." Tucker Carlson agrees. Noting that Trump appears to have used AI to decide to go to war, he said "it is hard to imagine clearer proof that the people running our country are nothing close to the geniuses they want you to think they are. They are faking it as they go. There is no master plan; the White House is not playing 4D chess. Or even checkers."

There are two more years to go. No matter what happens in November, Trump will still be in charge of a war no one asked for. He will still burn up the economy. He will still lie about his role. (Oil executives said last week that diesel prices "will not" return to normal for a year.) No one knows how bad it's going to get, but Republicans under Trump could face the same fate that Republicans faced under Herbert Hoover. Majorities already associate Trump's name with incompetence, greed and corruption. By 2028, that opinion could be unanimous.

The Democrats are prepared to hasten that moment. The DNC released a campaign video last week that featured a clip from Don't Look Up, a movie about scientists trying to warn of a meteor hurtling toward Earth – "an extinction-level event," as Hakeem Jeffries might say. In the clip, actor Leonardo DiCaprio screams into the TV camera as if he were giving voice to the mounting rage against Donald Trump and the Republicans: "The president of the United States is ------- lying! This whole administration has completely lost their ------- minds!"

Two more years from now, that may be common knowledge.

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CNN Data guru sees 'bonkers shifts' in Trump losses with key demographic

President Donald Trump has lost another key piece of his successful 2024 MAGA coalition: Hispanic male voters.

CNN data analyst Harry Enten said on Monday that the president won the group with 10 points in 2024, but in just two years he lost that and then some. Trump is now underwater by 41 points.

"That is ... by my math, a 51 point switcheroo against the president of the United States," Enten said. "All of that movement that you saw, that historic performance that President Trump had amongst Hispanic men, Adios, amigos. Goodbye. See you later."

"These numbers are bonkers," said Enten.

Co-host John Berman asked what caused such a huge swing.

"Yeah, it's the economy. It's the economy. We're seeing this across the board," Enten said. "But you're seeing it amongst Hispanic men. I mean, just look at these numbers here. Hispanic men on Trump in the economy. He was more trusted than Kamala Harris on the economy by 11 points."

But things get even worse.

"Look at this," Enten continued. "You thought a 50-plus-point swing was huge. Look at — now his net approval rating here is 49 points underwater in an average polls. That is a 60-point move away from the president of the United States on the issue that got him reelected to a second term. It really helped swing Hispanic men into the Republican column to a historic degree. And all of that movement, all that hard work that Republicans made and did for the 2024 election, it all is just — basically gone at this point. A huge swing back against the Republican president, Donald John Trump."

This could also impact the midterm elections, Enten explained.

"One thing that you're seeing these big moves among President Trump, right? You're seeing these big moves among Hispanic men for President Trump. But the key question is, will this actually matter when it comes to the ballot box? Because it's one thing to not like somebody else, but will you actually pull the lever for the other party?"

He pointed to the partisan ballot, where a voter is only given the party to chose, no other policy or candidate details. Trump has managed to flip those numbers on their head for Republicans.

"Choice for Congress. Hispanic men. Republicans won them by eight points. Look now — Democrats ahead by 20 points," Enten said. "So, yes, what we're seeing amongst Hispanic men and their views of President Trump very much diving towards the negative."

He expects a massive impact on the midterm elections.

"Hispanic men now favoring the Democrats by 20. That is, as I finish this out, a 28-point swing against the Republican Party. If you're a Republican running for reelection, a Republican running for Congress in these midterm elections, and you think you're going to escape the wrath that President Trump has now amongst Hispanic men, you are sorely, sorely mistaken. These are bonkers shifts," Enten closed.


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The Heartland is 'ripping the heart out of Trump’s presidency': data expert

President Donald Trump has now started to lose what's left of his coalition from the 2024 election, according to CNN data analyst Harry Enten.

Speaking to co-host John Berman on Tuesday, Enten showed another shocking bombshell number that is destroying support for Republican candidates.

"The target group of voters is white, non-college voters," Enten explained. "They were the heartbeat of President Trump's three presidential campaigns. And right now, the Heartland is ripping the heart out of Donald Trump's presidency because just take a look at these numbers right here. Okay? White non-college voters on Trump. He won those or he was leading against Kamala Harris among white non-college voters just before the 2024 election by 25 points. But down he goes."

Enten revealed that Trump is now suffering the biggest loss among former presidents in their second terms. George W. Bush was down 1 point in 2006 when the GOP lost big.

"And what happened to him? His party lost the United States House, and it also lost the United States Senate, in large part because a lot of voters who had previously been voting Republican decided to vote Democratic," said Enten.

Trump's problem is that he was heavily reliant on non-college white voters to help elect him. In fact, Enten said Trump was more reliant on them than any other group.

"No wonder he's so low," said Enten. "Now, even they have turned on him."

When asked about inflation, the white non-college voters supported him by 24 percent in 2024, but now it's bad enough that all Enten could say was "oh my goodness gracious." Trump is now down 39 points as the election nears.

"This is deep into the Iowa [Rob] Sand -39 points. What is that, Johnny B.? That's a change of 63 points in the wrong direction on the key issue that got Donald Trump reelected to a second term, among the key group that got him reelected," Enten said.

Co-host John Berman said that this might be the key reason Trump is pressing for a $50 billion Iowa steel plant so close to the election. But Trump must do something because it appears that for the first time in 20 years, Iowa could have a Democratic governor, if prediction markets are to be believed.

At the end of March, Kalshi said there was a 48 percent chance Sand could win the governor's race. Today that sits at an 83 percent likelihood.


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Trump hits 93-year low in longtime GOP stronghold: CNN data expert

President Donald Trump’s approval rating in the longtime Republican stronghold of Kansas has fallen to a level not seen in roughly 93 years, as the GOP pivots PAC money to hold a Senate seat it has not lost since 1932.

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten said Monday that Trump is now 15 points underwater in Kansas, a dramatic reversal from the same point in his first term, when his net approval rating in the state stood at plus 5, which is a drastic 20-point shift away from Trump.

Trump is also 16 points less popular than any other Republican president at the same stage of a presidency this century, Enten said.

“I would say Donald Trump is probably at this point in his term the least popular Republican president since Herbert Hoover,” Enten said. Hoover left office in 1933. The data comes into play because Kansas has unexpectedly become one of the most competitive Senate races in the country.

A New York Times/Siena University poll released Friday showed Democratic candidate Adam Hamilton and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall tied at 45 percent, with Libertarian David Graham at 3 percent. The historic numbers keep piling up and show how deep-red Kansas has been, as it has not elected a Democrat in 94 years.

Hamilton, the longtime pastor who founded the Church of the Resurrection in the Kansas City area, also recorded a net favorability rating of plus 12 in the Times/Siena polling. Enten said that was the strongest favorability rating among candidates tested in major Senate contests.

In response, the Republicans have been spending millions on a race which normally attracts much less attention. As CNN anchor John Berman pointed out, Senate Republicans are spending around $14 million in Kansas to get ahead of Hamilton.

Enten said Kansas has also gradually become less Republican than the rest of the country. Based on the average of the past two presidential elections, 17 states are now more Republican than Kansas. During the 2004 and 2008 election cycles, only seven were.

“It’s still leaning Republican, but not anywhere near as Republican as it once was,” Enten said.

Those changes, combined with Trump’s numbers and Hamilton’s popularity, have created an unusual situation in a state Republicans have dominated in Senate elections for generations.

“This to me is potentially a mathematical perfect storm,” Enten said.

The result, he added, could be a Kansas Senate race unlike anything the state has seen in nearly a century.

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Trump gets humiliating surprise hours after praising CNN data guru

CNN’s data guru was on the receiving end of rare praise from President Donald Trump, but hours later he delivered a reality check that was far less flattering.

During a campaign rally in Kalispell, Montana, Trump played footage of CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten discussing the president's popularity among MAGA Republicans. Trump was impressed with the clip, heaping praise on the CNN star.

"He's very good," Trump told the crowd, before joking that Enten may be out of the job the next day, implying that the network doesn’t tolerate praise about him.

But on Thursday morning, Enten was back on CNN with stats that the president would not be playing in any rally. He showed that Trump's support among voters 30 and younger has collapsed.

Appearing alongside anchor John Berman, Enten showed a new Fox News poll that said the president's net approval rating among those younger voters is at minus 50 points.

In October 2024, the same age group viewed Trump more favorably than unfavorably, giving him a positive three-point net rating, which represents a damning 53-point swing against him in two years.

"It's absolutely stunning," Enten said.

The figures are meaningful because young voters were a key group in his political comeback in 2024. Trump embraced young influencers and made sure podcasts and social media were a part of his campaigning. However, those young voters were expecting him to keep his promises on no wars and bringing the cost of living down.

The Fox survey reveals that young voters are overwhelmingly against his handling of the economy, as 91% of voters 30 and younger disapprove of Trump's handling of inflation, meaning fewer than one in 10 approve.

Enten gave a dramatic depiction of how damaging the poll is for Trump:

“There are more Americans who think that we fake the moon landing than the percentage of young voters who actually approve of the job that Trump is doing on inflation. These numbers are some of the worst I have ever seen in any poll, on any issue for any president,” he said.

The cost of living is an ongoing preoccupation for those who have to put in the work to pay rent, buy groceries, and cover their gas. With the Iran war pushing the national average for gasoline to about $4.30 a gallon and September’s inflation clocking in at 3.7%, it is no surprise. Fox reports that six out of 10 voters cite the cost of living as their primary economic issue, outranking jobs and taxes.

In the wider view of its survey, Fox News has given the White House little to be pleased with. Trump’s approval has dropped to 36%, the lowest the network has ever recorded, with 64% in disapproval. The polling of 1,202 registered voters from Oct. 9-12 also put Democrats ahead of Republicans on the congressional ticket, 54% to 45%.

There was a marked difference from the rally on Wednesday. In a video he put out with some pride, Trump displayed his standing with MAGA Republicans at 98%, not far off the 99% who were with him in 2024. While that core of support is undiminished, the figures from Thursday indicate the president will have a harder time with the rest of his audience.

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Pollster reveals the one Trump official who is 'really, really, really popular'

With President Donald Trump serving out his lame duck term, there has been much discussion about who will be heir to the Republican throne. While no clear leader has emerged, according to CNN’s Harry Enten, one White House official is gaining steam.

“Marco Rubio is really, really, really popular with Republicans,” Enten revealed on Wednesday. “His chances to be the Republican nominee in 2028 are up like a rocket taking off from Cape Canaveral.”

According to Enten — who is CNN’s chief data analyst — evidence of Rubio’s snowballing popularity comes from the prediction market Kalshi, on which odds that the Secretary of State will be the GOP nominee jumped from 11 percent in January to 30 percent by the end of May.

“All of a sudden, the people putting their money where their mouths are are really liking Rubio’s chances,” said Enten.

While it was once widely assumed that Vice President JD Vance would lead the Republican ticket in 2028, his political cache has diminished due to a number of recent setbacks and humiliations tied to the undesirable tasks he was handed, like stumping for the failed reelection of former Hungarian strongman Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and overseeing early peace negotiations with Iran that fizzled embarrassingly. Meanwhile, Rubio has tended to enjoy less precarious tasks like visiting the Vatican to ease tensions with the Pope or accompanying Trump to UFC fights, which have garnered him generally positive or at least neutral media coverage.

Consequently, Rubio’s popularity has grown precipitously. As Forbes reports, among Republicans, his “net approval rating is the highest of any member of Trump’s administration at +77 points, according to Quinnipiac. JD Vance sits at +69, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at +63, and FBI Director Kash Patel at +49.”

Or as Enten explains, “Marco Rubio is, simply put, the most popular Republican in the Trump administration besides the president himself, and also, if you zone in a little bit more, of the Cabinet itself.”

That being said, Enten notes that Rubio still faces a -6 net approval rating among all voters, but while that means there is still ground for him to make up, he remains firmly ahead of other Trump officials like Vance (-15), Hegseth (-21), and Patel (-26).

“[Rubio] is underwater,” said Enten, “but not by that much…and he’s nearly 10 points more popular than JD Vance.”

That being said, some experts have noted that Rubio faces a number of difficult “roadblocks” in his path toward the Oval Office. To win, he has to thread the needle between garnering MAGA support and addressing the “major departure” from Trump polls suggest is desired by most voters. He also may yet get ensnared in some of the administration’s key policy disasters, like the war with Iran.

And while Rubio may be popular with many Republicans, there is no shortage of those who remain unconvinced. According to the influential conservative Ann Coulter, he is unlikely to appeal to the “America First” ethos expected by many Republicans.

“The half-wits like Rubio and his donors feel like big intellectual global strategists, striding the globe, rearranging things,” said Coulter recently. “But every time they rearrange things, it’s an unmitigated disaster.”

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Trump is 'is stuck in the mud': data expert

As of the end of August, polls show that President Donald Trump is 21 points underwater.

CNN data analyst walked through where Trump stood with Americans since May on CNN Friday.

According to Harry Enten, Trump's ratings are so bad that he's "stuck" in the basement.

"How low does he go?!" Enten kicked off the segment. "Well, this is a president who is stuck on empty. Stuck on neutral. Whatever kind of gas analogy you want to make."

Prediction markets show a 46 percent likelihood that there will be a Democratic sweep in November.

"The president's approval rating, simply put, is low. His net approval rating is low. It is staying low, and there is no sign he's getting out of the basement. He's stuck on the ground," said Enten.

CNN host John Berman said that it's only the end of August, "surely" there's some way that Trump could come back from such horrific numbers.

He compared it to former President George W. Bush, who lost his huge majority after the September 11 attacks.

"Surely, you can't be serious!" mocked Enten. "He is stuck in the mud, and there's no reason for me to believe he will get himself out of the mud."

He explained that over the past 20 years, midterm polling for the president hasn't shifted that much, on average.

With less than 70 days before the election, Enten said that it's clear he's "stuck" because the approval has been down anywhere from 18 to 20 points. Enten said he simply doesn't see it going anywhere.

The new "Strength in Numbers/Verasight" poll published Thursday found that only 37 percent of Americans who approve of his job performance and 60 percent disapprove.

Trump's weakest rating is on prices and inflation, where net approval fell to a record −48; only 24 percent approve of his handling of costs. Border security, formerly his strongest issue, has now also slipped to −5. Democrats lead the generic congressional ballot 49–43 and are trusted more on eight of 12 issues, including prices, jobs, health care and education. The White House disputed the poll’s implications, citing its economic record.

The most significant impact may be turnout: poor presidential approval can energize opposition voters, discourage the president’s party’s voters and make independents more willing to vote Democratic. It will certainly make the November 3rd election difficult for Republicans.

Democrats need a net gain of four seats to control the Senate chamber and must defend vulnerable seats of their own. Key competitive contests include Alaska, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas, while Michigan and Georgia remain crucial Democratic holds.

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