A new CNN/SSRS poll dropped Wednesday showing Trump’s approval rating on the economy has fallen to a career low of 31%.
CNN anchor John Berman opened with it on CNN News Central. “This just scratches the surface because there are some other numbers here that are really staggering!”
Harry Enten stepped up to deliver them. “This is no April Fool’s joke! This is a disaster!” The economy has been Trump’s strongest political ground for a decade. That ground is gone.
Inflation alone would have been enough.
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72% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of it. Joe Biden averaged 68% disapproval on inflation at a comparable point in his presidency. Jimmy Carter, whose term became a cautionary tale about rising prices, sat at 66% in 1978. Trump is worse than both of them. Enten summed it up in one phrase: “Oh my goodness gracious, what a disaster!”
Gas prices tell the same story.
“How about disapprove on gas prices?” Enten said. “Donald Trump right now in our CNN poll, 76%, 76%! Three in four Americans disapprove of the way that Donald Trump is handling gas prices.” Biden’s worst number on gas in any poll Enten could locate was 72%. Trump just passed it.
The financial pain is real.
Gas is now averaging above $4 a gallon nationally, up sharply since Operation Epic Fury began on February 28. 63% of Americans say higher gas prices have caused at least some hardship in their household. 15% say the hardship is severe. 45% have cut back significantly on driving. More than 6 in 10 are trimming grocery budgets.
It does not get better from there.
65% say Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions, up 10 points since January. Approval on inflation sits at just 27%, down from 44% one year ago. Overall approval is at 35%, one point off his all-time low in CNN polling.
His own party is shifting. Republicans who strongly approve of his job performance dropped from 52% in January to 43% now. Among Republicans under 45, economic approval is down 23 points since the start of the year. His own people are done. Not the fringes. The actual base.
Enten had one framing for the inflation comparison that cut through everything else. “Whenever you have Joe Biden and Jimmy Carter on the board and you’re matching them or slightly exceeding them when it comes to inflation,” he said, “you know it’s bad.”
The White House still has one answer for every bad number. The 2024 election. The 2024 election, unfortunately, is not paying for anyone’s gas right now.
Featured image via YouTube screengrab
