CNN polling expert said Friday that while former President Trump is less popular than his opponent, he is more popular at this stage of the race than he was when he went on to win the 2016 election.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump have been running an extremely tight race in recent weeks, and both candidates have been on a media blitz ranging from podcasts to town hall appearances.
CNN senior political data reporter Harry Enten highlighted that one key disparity shows the Harris honeymoon momentum may be over, while Trump is on the rise.
“I think that there are a lot of folks like myself who think that Trump’s unpopularity is baked in, but here’s the deal,” the network’s data guru said. “If you believe that Donald Trump has somehow become less popular over time, let me change your mind about that. In fact, he is more popular at this point in the campaign than he was in the 2020 campaign or the 2016 campaign.”
Enten conceded that Trump is ultimately “still underwater” with a net favorability rating of -9 points, but the fact that it is higher than in 2020 and far higher than 2016, should raise a clear concern for Harris’ campaign.
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“So I think there’s this real question in Kamala Harris’ mind, in the campaign’s mind, ‘Why is Trump more popular now than he was in 2020 or 2016?’” he asked, before saying such numbers are “why you’re seeing the sharpening attacks” from the Harris campaign.
“Kamala Harris is more popular than Donald Trump, but Kamala Harris had her popularity rising once, of course, she became the presumptive Democratic nominee,” he recalled. “But she has fallen back down.”
She went from +1 favorability in Sept. to -1 in October according to one poll.
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“The momentum of Kamala Harris has stalled, and I think they feel like they have to change something that’s going on in their campaign, because they were seeing a rise and now it has stalled out,” Enten said. “She’s still more popular than Trump, but look, Joe Biden was more popular than Trump, much more, and barely won, and Hillary Clinton was more popular than Donald Trump and lost. Being more popular than Trump isn’t enough,”
Enten underlined his point by suggesting, “She wants to continue seeing her [favorability numbers] rise, but in fact, they’re going in the wrong direction.”
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