CNN data guru warns that even with nominee Harris, Dems facing a Trump that is ‘stronger’ than ‘ever before'
CNN data guru Harry Enten recently demonstrated polling showing that former President Trump is tough to beat in the upcoming election because he's more popular than ever.
CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten warned the Democratic Party that even if Vice President Kamala Harris becomes its presidential nominee, it will be facing a former President Trump who has never been more popular.
Enten pulled out several polls on CNN Tuesday demonstrating that Trump’s national approval rating is higher than it has ever been during his time in politics, and that beating him in November will be a challenge for Harris if she ends up facing him.
"Yes, Democrats can make this switcheroo, but they’re still going to have to beat Donald Trump, a Donald Trump who is stronger, Sara, than he has ever been before," he told anchor Sara Sidner.
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The network’s data guru pointed to two recent national polls Tuesday morning, one from ABC/Ipsos and one from Quinnipiac University showing the former president’s popularity as it stands following the Republican National Convention last week.
"We know that Donald Trump has historically been unpopular, but take a look now," he began. "After the Republican National Convention, in the ABC News/Ipsos poll, he recorded his highest ever favorable rating at 40%. That’s not a one-off."
Mentioning the other poll, he continued, "Take a look at the Quinnipiac University poll: 46%. That’s the highest ever in that pollster."
"The fact is, Donald Trump is more popular now than he ever has been before," Enten declared, summing up the new polls.
Sidner then invited Enten to demonstrate how Trump would stack up against Harris compared to how he would match up against Biden in a presidential race. According to the reporter’s aggregate numbers, Trump currently has the edge over Kamala in national popular vote polling, whereas he was polling below Biden during the 2020 Election, which he lost.
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Starting with Trump against Harris, he said, "If we take a look at the national average, what do we see? We see Donald Trump up by one. That’s a within-the-margin race. That’s a close race."
He then turned to the Biden/Trump numbers from last election cycle.
"So last time around, when Joe Biden barely won in the electoral college, he actually won the national popular vote by four points."
"So at this point, Donald Trump is running five points better – five points better – than he was four years ago against Joe Biden," he said, adding, "… Whether you look at the favorable ratings, whether you look at the horse race polling, we see that Donald Trump is doing significantly better than he was doing four years ago at this point."
Enten then provided a warning for Harris, who became the presumptive Democratic Party nominee following Biden suspending his campaign over the weekend.
"Kamala Harris is going to have to do better than this of course if she wants to win the popular vote, but more than that if she wants to win the electoral college where she’ll likely have to outperform how she’s done nationally," the reporter added, though he did acknowledge that there hasn’t been national polling on Harris since Biden ditched his bid over the weekend.