CNN’s Harry Enten didn’t mince words Thursday when assessing President Donald Trump’s latest approval numbers — saying they’re “down there with the Titanic.”
The network’s chief data analyst said Trump’s approval has sunk to “term two lows,” warning it’s weighing heavily on Republican candidates. Polls now show his net approval between -12 and -26 percentage points. “If there’s any idea that Republicans are going to be able to outrun Donald Trump’s low approval ratings, this says ‘nuh uh’ — they’re going to be like impalas getting chased down in the African desert by a big lion,” Enten said.
The comments come after Democrats made major election gains earlier this week, including in New York City, where democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani defeated Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Analysts say Trump’s unpopularity could spell more trouble for the GOP heading into the 2026 midterms.
Rasmussen Reports currently puts Trump’s net approval at -8, his lowest since returning to office in January. The Economist/YouGov found him at 39% approval and 58% disapproval, while RealClearPolitics’ polling average shows a -8.9 net rating — the worst of his second term.
University of Surrey politics lecturer Mark Shanahan told Newsweek that Trump’s presence still looms large even when he’s not on the ballot. “It has been a bad week for Republican politicians pretty much across the country other than Texas,” Shanahan said. “Trump claimed their losses were because he wasn’t on the ballot, but he loomed menacingly over every election, and much of the reversal for the GOP comes from voters rejecting the Trump project.”