CNN’s Harry Enten declared that President Donald Trump has a “big frickin’ problem” in his very low approval ratings, notably among a key voting bloc.
“I took a look at all of the polling, averaged it all together, and we have now reached the year mark. We have now reached the year mark in which he has a negative net approval rating,” he said on CNN News Central.
“According to my average of polls, what we’ve been looking at is every day since March 12th, 2025, President Trump has been underwater and we’ve been counting up the days,” he continued.
A graphic then appeared on screen showing that Trump has been underwater in the polls for 365 days in a row.
“We’ve shown this slide a number of times, and we have now reached the point in which Trump has been swimming with the fishes for a year,” Enten declared.
“So, not so happy anniversary,” anchor John Berman replied. “Underwater overall, but really bad with one voting group.”
“Yeah, really bad with one voting group. John, you know, we have spoken about this: independents, independents, independents—the center of the electorate. We have been talking about how Trump has been just downright awful with them!” Enten said.
He then compared Trump’s polling among independents to that of former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
“Look at that: 38 points underwater at this point. That is worse than Obama by 20 points. That is worse than George W. Bush by double digits, and of course, George W. Bush’s second term went way off the rails,” Enten said.
“Katrina, Iraq, ultimately the Great Recession as well, so that is not a comparison you want if you’re President Trump,” Berman said.
He then pointed to a recent Fox News poll, which showed a vast majority of independents are unhappy with the Trump administration’s priorities.
“Sixty percent overall say that the Trump administration is focused on the wrong things. Look at that, 78 percent of independents say that the Trump administration is focused on the wrong things,” he said.
Enten added, “I mean, how does that work? How does that work politically, John? I don’t understand how that works, especially if those numbers hold to the midterm elections. That’s a big frickin’ problem!”
“Well, it may not be working as you look forward to the midterm elections,” Berman quipped.
Enten also pointed to prediction markets as it relates to the 2026 midterm elections. He noted that Democrats have a 46 percent chance of taking control of both the House and Senate, which is up from a 21 percent chance the party had at the start of this year.
“What we see is that Democrats’ chance of doing that has been rising, rising, rising on a stairway to heaven my dear friend,” Enten said, adding “It’s not yet at 50 percent, but it is clearly rising, and that is something that I think is quite shocking because alot of folks like myself thought the Democrats would take back the House, but the idea of taking back the Senate as well? That’s a pretty big deal.”
A White House spokesperson disputed the poll in a statement to the Daily Beast.
“According to the RealClearPolitics average, President Trump is enjoying a higher approval rating than former Presidents Obama and Bush at this point in their second term, with much more hostile media coverage,” spokesman Davis Ingle said.
