Overview
- Media coverage documents the president repeatedly airing short segments of CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten’s polling pieces, with CNN’s Laura Coates noting roughly 15 playings over a recent three‑week span.
- Enten told CNN he was surprised by the attention, saying Trump has grown 'infatuated' with the segments and routinely plays the portions most flattering to his MAGA base.
- Enten warned that fuller polling shows Trump has lost ground with Republicans who do not identify as MAGA and is now 'actually underwater' with that group, which he called a 'potentially truly devastating' sign.
- Enten said independents’ net approval of the president has 'dropped off a cliff' and that his average approval minus disapproval is about 50 points underwater in polls, a historically weak position ahead of a midterm.
- The unusual dynamic of a president praising and replaying an analyst’s work while that analyst highlights broader losses matters because selective messaging can mask declines among independents, young voters and immigrant voters that could translate into down‑ballot GOP losses in competitive races.