CNN’s chief data analyst has revealed that President Donald Trump’s own party is “outperforming” him in the polls.
Republicans are seeing better polling numbers than the 80-year-old president, even as Trump’s net approval rating plummets to record lows, Harry Enten said Wednesday in a warning to Democrats.
“Democrats are down on their knees. They’re begging, ‘Please, please, please allow this election to be about Donald John Trump’ because if you could see this right now, Republicans are actually outperforming President Trump,” he said.
Citing his own “Enten’s aggregate,” the CNN data guru said 41 percent of the electorate would choose Republicans for the House. That’s several points higher than approval of Trump, which stands at a measly 37 percent.
“So right now, Democrats are actually underperforming where they should be, given where President Trump’s popularity is. And Republicans are overperforming,” Enten explained. “Democrats are begging, ‘Please, President Trump, get involved in these midterm fights. We can do even better than we’re doing right now.’”
But that doesn’t mean the outlook is bleak for Democrats. In fact, Enten pointed out, Democrats are leading in the generic congressional ballot by about six to eight points.
There’s another reason Democrats would benefit from pulling Trump into the center of the heated midterm cycle, Enten said, citing a CNN/SSRS poll conducted in July.
In that poll, registered voters were asked how they viewed their votes for Congress. Forty percent said their vote was meant to send a message that they opposed Trump, while 18 percent said their ballot would be a vote of confidence in the president. The other 42 percent said their votes were not about sending a message to Trump.
Meanwhile, Trump enjoys an 81 percent approval rating among GOP voters who said they were motivated to vote.
“So if you’re gonna motivate those Republicans on the sidelines, the ones you’re more likely to motivate are actually those who are more likely to dislike the President of the United States,” Enten said.
“Again, this is why Democrats are begging, ‘Please, please, please, let’s make this a midterm about President Trump,’ because the slew of data suggests that’d be a very good midterm for them indeed,” he added.
