'You can hear the concern': Trump's dumpster-level polling casts a shadow over CPAC

CNN reports right wing figures and influencers are gathering at one of the biggest conservative conferences of the year in Texas — but what's gathering with them is fear.

This year, CNN anchor Boris Sanchez reports President Donald Trump's poll numbers are in a dumpster, along with the Republican party's chances of holding on to both the House and Senate in the midterms. Government debt is also on a steep rise and the war with Iran is grievously unpopular and breaking the Republican Party into pieces.

“This isn't, you know, what I voted for,” said CPAC attendee Shashank Yalamanchi. “What I voted for was domestic policy change at home and, you know, realistic foreign policy. So, I'm just hoping we can get it all wrapped up soon.”

“I think they’ll get destroyed in the midterms,” said CPAC Attendee Alexander Selby, speaking of Republicans. “I just I get the vibe that a lot of people I knew who just voted for Trump because they thought he was cool in high school are now just like, ‘I can't stand the guy’.”

“It is like night and day,” CNN senior reporter Steve Contorno told Sanchez from the convention hall in Dallas, Texas. “Last year, CPAC was this electric, jubilant atmosphere coming off those 2024 electoral victories. Trump gave this hour long, triumphant speech. But the mood here this year could not be different.

“Against the backdrop of this Iran war that is increasingly testing the loyalty of his movements, … several of the speakers are urging conservatives to stick together to focus more on attacking Democrats rather than on attacking each other. But when I spoke with attendees here this morning, their anxieties were on full display.”

CPAC Chair Matt Schlapp admitted to Contorno earlier on Thursday that “the party is divided,” but claimed “this is a group that supports President Trump.”

Still, Contorno said the midterms “are absolutely a concern.”

“There's certainly time until November to get everyone back into the tent, but just listening to these speeches on the stage, you can definitely hear the concern that Republicans are more focused on defining what MAGA is, defining what America First means versus focusing on winning and beating Democrats.”

“Perhaps that's something that can be addressed in the coming months. But right now, those tensions are on full display here in Dallas,” Contorno said.

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