CNN’s chief data analyst said President Donald Trump’s dismal approval ratings prove that Americans reject his latest “political disaster.”
Harry Enten said the 80-year-old president’s deal with Iran has left Americans scratching their heads about the point of the months-long war that drove up gas and grocery prices.
“I think the American people are going, ‘What was the point of all of that? What was the point of all that?’ because the American people hated it, and the way you can know that they hate it, just take a look: Trump’s net approval ratings hit lows for Fox Polls.”
Trump was 21 points underwater in a Fox News poll conducted from June 12 to 15, marking his second-worst performance ever. The survey, released on Wednesday, found that only 39 percent of Americans approved of his overall job performance, while 60 percent were unhappy.
Those numbers are second only to Trump’s approval rating in May, when he was 22 points underwater—his lowest-ever rating, according to Enten. The president was also a staggering 55 points underwater with independent voters.
“I mean, my goodness gracious, this was a political disaster, no wonder the president wants to move on from it,” Enten said of the Iran war.
The CNN data guru attributed Trump’s bleak approval ratings to inflation, which has surged to 4.2 percent, the highest in more than three years.
Enten said an average of Ipsos polling over the past month showed that the president was 51 points underwater on inflation.
“There was no president ever before that had any poll in which he was 50 points underwater on inflation or worse,” he said. “The Iran war absolutely drove Trump to new lows on the issue that got him reelected in the first place: inflation.”
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle insisted in a statement that “what matters most to the American people is having a Commander-in-Chief who takes decisive action to eliminate threats and keep them safe.”
“President Trump campaigned proudly on his promise to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, and he’s kept his promise. The President does not make these incredibly important national security decisions based on fluid opinion polls, but on the best interest of the American people,” he said.
On Wednesday, Washington and Tehran announced a 14-point deal to end the war, but even Trump’s own base wasn’t pleased. The criticism largely focused on a $300 billion fund for the “reconstruction and economic development” of Iran, although the agreement states that the U.S. is not required to make a financial contribution.
Fox News contributor Leslie Marshall tore into the deal on Special Report with Bret Baier.
“This is a great deal for Iran. Iran comes back richer… They get money, $300 billion… You have sanctions lifted, you have assets that are going to be unfrozen. What do we get? What do we get, Bret?” she asked.
Conservative broadcaster Erick Erickson called the deal “an American surrender.”
Broadcaster Mark Levin, a MAGA diehard, was similarly stumped.
“Honestly, this is too absurd to comprehend,” he said. “Regardless of how this slush fund is collected or distributed, here we are committing to helping reconstruct the terror regime we presumably just destroyed.”
