CNN data guru has more bad news for Trump

CNN data guru Harry Enten has some bad news for President Donald Trump: the vast majority of Americans — including most Republicans — think he surrendered to Iran in order to end the war asap rather than because he had achieved any of his objectives. According to Enten, two-thirds of all voters held this opinion, but surprisingly, over half of Republicans — 53 percent — shared this view.

“Look at this,” said Enten. “66 percent of Americans simply think he wanted to end the war, and even among Republicans, his own party, don’t think that, in fact, the Trump administration met its war goals. In fact, they think he wants to just end the war.”

What’s more, the numbers show that most Americans don’t believe Trump’s claim that the U.S. won the war. Said Enten, “What they think happened was Iran was fighting back, America looked at the chance of victory in terms of what Trump initially laid out as the chance of victory — they did not think that that was possibly going to be accomplished. We’re talking about two-thirds of Americans, and even a majority of Republicans.”

According to Enten, disapproval of the conflict has been consistent, starting at around 64 percent during its early weeks, rising to 66 percent, then dropping back to 64 percent, with 75 percent of independents holding negative views.

“No matter what deal has been made, the clear majority, two-thirds of Americans, still disapprove of the job that Donald Trump is doing when it comes to that conflict,” Enten said, noting that opinions haven’t shifted since the peace agreement was signed. “Americans still disapprove of the job that Donald Trump is doing on Iran. The polling is quite steady.”

What’s more, the latest polling shows that 57 percent of Americans think the war caused more problems than it solved, with only 21 percent saying the opposite and another 21 percent saying the situation is exactly the same as before. That’s 78 percent of Americans who think the outcome is the same or worse than before the conflict: hardly a ringing endorsement of Trump’s decision to launch war in the first place. That same poll, conducted in the final days of the war, found that 78 percent of Americans believe the U.S. should end the war immediately, versus just 22 percent who think the U.S. should persist until Iran gives up further concessions.

This has proven a major drag on the president's approval rating in general. As USA Today explains, “Trump's approval rating overall has been underwater for the majority of his return to office, but the war's disruption to the global oil supply chain has pushed prices up, and his approval rating down.” Since the war’s end, Trump’s approval has ticked up just slightly, reaching 38 percent.