CNN data guru Harry Enten has exposed the critical issue causing an unprecedented level of “hatred” of President Donald Trump among Americans.
Enten made the claims on CNN on Sunday as gas prices hit a national average of $4.07 a gallon, the highest August price on record, according to AAA.
The price of gas is rising amid continued uncertainty around access to the Strait of Hormuz, a direct result of Trump’s war with Iran.
Enten said August’s record national average means Americans “can’t catch a break,” on gas prices.
“The American people very much dislike, dare I say, President Trump when it comes to gas prices,” Enten said, noting it was “not a huge surprise” given the soaring cost of fuel.
“But it‘s to a historic degree, the hatred for President Trump on gas prices,” Enten stated.
The analyst then revealed data to back up his claims of Trump’s unprecedented unpopularity in regard to the critical cost of living issue.
Using his own “Enten’s Aggregate” of polling data, he calculated Trump’s public disapproval on gas prices at 79 percent this year, compared to 75 percent for President George W. Bush in 2006, the year in which the Lebanon war led to a temporary surge in global crude oil and U.S. gas prices.
President Joe Biden had a 72 percent disapproval on gas prices in 2022, a year where prices fluctuated due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and President Barack Obama on 68 percent in 2011, after Arab Spring protests caused oil prices to rise globally.
Enten said Trump’s high disapproval rating translates to around four in five Americans being unhappy with the job he is doing on gas prices, topping Bush, Obama and Biden’s highest levels of dissatisfaction over the issue.
“So Donald Trump is breaking records in the ways that you, simply put, do not want to be breaking records when it comes to gas prices and how Americans view the job that he is doing,” Enten said.
Enten then attempted to explain Trump’s “historically high disapproval rating” on gas prices, noting “you can’t reach 79 percent just by Democrats disliking the job that you’re doing, or dare I say it, hating it.”
The analyst found the “hatred” for Trump on gas crossed party lines, pointing to a “rare trifecta” of bipartisan dissatisfaction with the president uniting voters.
Enten noted that 96 percent of Democrats disapproved of Trump, and 85 percent of independents, but also 52 percent of Republicans, with Enten citing data from a CNN/SSRS poll conducted taken last month.
“That tried and true Republican base that has stuck with Donald Trump through thick and thin, even... a majority of them, 52 percent, disapprove of the job that President Trump is doing on gas prices.”
Enten noted any Republican running in the upcoming midterm elections “you very much want to be running away from President Trump at least on...how Americans view him on gas prices.”
To understand why the numbers were so low, Enten looked at Trump’s disapproval by income levels.
He found the disapproval from those making less than $50,000 a year was driving Trump’s slumping popularity over gas, again citing the CNN/SSRS poll from July.
While the number was highest with Democrats on 93 percent and independent voters on 90 percent, Enten pointed that the overall disapproval level was 86 percent.
“You can‘t get 86 percent of Americans or even a subgroup of Americans who are not a partisan subgroup to agree on anything,” Enten said. “But they do when it comes to gas prices.”
He also pointed out that 66 percent of Republicans making under $50,000 a year also disapproving of Trump’s gas prices was “very unlucky indeed” for the president.
“I’m sometimes a little hesitant to make predictions,” Enten said. “But if these numbers hold for the midterm elections... I really don‘t understand how it‘s not going to be a very good night for Democrats indeed.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
