CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten offered viewers a “reality check” on President Donald Trump’s popularity this week as tension ahead of this fall’s midterm elections heats up on both sides of the political aisle.
On Wednesday night, Enten pointed to his network’s recent poll which proves that Trump is “still the sun around which the planets of the GOP revolve around,” despite his sinking approval ratings.
“Trump’s name is still the one that GOP voters buy when it comes to Senate endorsements,” he said, pointing to the president’s endorsement of Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.), who filled the seat vacated by her late brother, Sen. Lindsay Graham, last month and handily won her state’s Senate GOP primary runoff this week.
“The reason why Darline Graham won that primary, won that nomination, is because of one name, and one name only: Donald John Trump,” he continued.
Watch a clip of Harry Enten’s Aug. 26 report below.
Enten went on to point out the results of another CNN poll, which found that some 53% of Republicans listed Trump as the Republican president they admire most, nearly three times the 18% who selected former President Ronald Reagan and more than six times the 8% who chose former President Abraham Lincoln.
“The slide might end up on a printout on his desk sometime soon, if he hasn’t seen it already,” anchor John Berman quipped in response, alluding to Trump’s much-discussed White House aide Natalie Harp, who is said to supply her boss with paper copies of positive media coverage on the regular.
Enten’s statistics may be encouraging for Republicans, many of whom have expressed concerns over a prospective Democratic “wipeout” in November’s midterms.
Earlier this week, Fox News’ Laura Ingraham urged GOP lawmakers to “get their act together” while reporting on South Carolina’s Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, Annie Andrews, who will face Darline Graham in the general election.
She also pointed to Ken Paxton, the scandal-plagued Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, who has made few public appearances after securing Trump’s endorsement in May.