CNN’s chief data analyst, Harry Enten, on Thursday suggested President Donald Trump’s endorsements could play out like “Survivor” with GOP candidates after MAGA’s big primary wins in Indiana this week.
“When it comes to Republican voters and Donald John Trump, he absolutely still has the juice. And when you’re a Republican, and you go against Trump, you get voted off the island,” Enten said.
A majority of Trump-backed GOP candidates took Indiana primary races on Tuesday, months after lawmakers in the state turned down the president’s redistricting plan.
While White House lawyers are reportedly preparing for a Democratic-controlled Congress and the unpopularity of the Iran war looms overhead, Enten said the primary victories show that Republicans are still marching to a Trump-friendly beat.
The president holds an 84% popularity rating with Republicans at this point in the midterm cycle, per Enten’s aggregate.
That figure is just lower than Trump’s popularity rating with the party at this point in the 2018 election cycle (85%) and higher than this point in the 2022 midterms (76%), according to the data chief’s numbers.
Later in the segment, Enten emphasized that Trump has an “extra strong core” MAGA base who are “incredibly juiced up” compared to non-MAGA Republicans.
A majority of MAGA Republicans (60%) said it’s “more important” to vote in this year’s elections than the usual midterms, said Enten, citing the results of a recent poll by ABC News/The Washington Post.
That figure was less than the amount of non-MAGA Republicans who indicated the same (36%).
“The people who really love [Trump]… they would go over hot coals to vote in those primaries. And you saw that in Indiana with a clear majority of those representatives who went against Trump on redistricting,” Enten said.
“Well, they’re no longer going to have a job come the next session of that state.”