Polling Expert Sees ‘Massive Issue’ Turning Voters Against Trump

Polling Collapse

President Donald Trump is confronting a deepening political liability as new data shows his standing on inflation has cratered, CNN data analyst Harry Enten told anchor Kate Bolduan this week. Enten said the shift is not about “fake” polling, as Trump has repeatedly claimed, but a measurable rejection from voters themselves. The White House / Wikimedia

A Dramatic Reversal

“Have polls always been down for Trump when it comes to inflation?” Bolduan asked.
“No, no, not at all,” Enten replied. He pointed to October 2024, when “Americans trusted Donald Trump by nine points on average” over Kamala Harris on inflation. According to Enten, “Those same exact polls have him way, way, way underwater, 26 points underwater on his net approval on inflation.” Lawrence Jackson / Wikimedia

Voters Turning Away

Enten said the shift reflects a fundamental change in public sentiment. “So it's not that the polls are fake, it's that the American people have turned against you, Mr. President, you've gone from leading by nine points on inflation to being 26 points underwater. You're doing something very wrong in the minds of the American public.” The White House / Wikimedia

Bolduan’s Reaction

“Negative 26. That’s a problem,” Bolduan said, noting the magnitude of the decline. She pressed Enten on Trump’s claim that polling errors similar to 2024 might boost his standing. The White House / Wikimedia

Hypothetical Scenario

Enten ran through that scenario: “Going from plus 9 to -26, that's a move of over 30 points in the wrong direction.” Even if polls underestimated him again, he explained, “he still got a Titanic-sized problem.” If the polling error were identical to 2024, Enten noted, “He’s then 24 points underwater on inflation.” The White House / Wikimedia

Possible Overestimation of GOP Strength

Enten added that there is evidence polling may now be overestimating Republicans. “We just saw this a week ago in both Virginia and New Jersey,” he said. Polls “underestimated the Democrat Mikie Sherrill by eight points in New Jersey” and “underestimated Abigail Spanberger's margin by five points in Virginia.” Joeshmonobody, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bleak Landscape for Trump

“The bottom line is this: the polls on inflation are absolutely awful for Donald Trump,” Enten said. Even in the most generous scenario, he added, Trump would still be “way, way below water.” And if polls are overestimating the GOP, “the problem ... might be even worse than the polls suggest.” The White House / Wikimedia

Political Consequences

Enten concluded the crisis cannot be dismissed: “Donald Trump has a massive issue on his hand, and no wishing will make it go away, because people feel it in their pocketbooks every day and they see it as the prices climb ever higher when they try and purchase their groceries.” The White House / Wikimedia