Data guru reveals 'massive' polling shift that should worry Republicans over House rebuke
President Donald Trump has accomplished a "rare trifecta" in the current polarized era by uniting all political factions against his war against Iran, according to CNN's Harry Enten.
The 79-year-old president launched the war Feb. 28 and has been unable to negotiate an end to the conflict or Iran's crippling closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and Enten presented new polling data that found his war is more unpopular than ever.
"The most unpopular war at the start of a war that I could ever find, ever, has become even more unpopular," Enten said. "That's what those Republicans in the House are seeing. Just take a look here: Net approval rating of the Iran war, at the start, it was underwater, minus-nine points. Now it's down there with the Strait of Hormuz. Look at this, minus-23 points."
Four GOP lawmakers joined the Democratic minority Wednesday in voting to limit Trump's war powers, and Enten said they're reflecting the broader public opinion.
"This is a war that has become more unpopular even as President Trump and his administration has tried to sell it, and among independents, it's gone from 23 points underwater to, get this, 40 points underwater with independents," he said. "So those Republicans who are, in fact, did not vote with the renegade Republicans, they are helping to put that Republican majority, which was already at great risk in the House, in even more risk."
"How do people feel about the idea that military force needs congressional approval?" Enten added. "Okay, this is pretty simple – against presidents using military force without Congress' approval, look at this, 63 percent overall are against the idea that, in fact, that the president could just go willy-nilly without congressional approval. How about independents? Seventy-two percent, 72 percent, more than two in three independents are against the idea that the president can, in fact, use military force without congressional approval. So the American people, independents very much with that House vote yesterday."
Support for the war has dropped among independents from minus-23 percent to minus-40 points, Enten noted.
"Independents, of course, have been such an important part of the president's decaying political coalition," he said. "They were pretty much even in the 2024 election, and they have shifted massively against him, and especially on this war."
The president has managed to bring all factions together on one aspect of his war, the data analyst said.
"Whatever exactly this ceasefire is, people want it to continue," Enten said. "Take a look here, and this is the rare trifecta: Continue the Iran cease fire and the negotiations, look at this, 77 percent of all Americans. Then you get the rare trifecta: Democrats, 96 percent, independents, 81 percent, and even a majority of Republicans here. What we're essentially saying is, yes, they do, in fact, want the ceasefire to continue. They like this idea."
"They do not, in fact, want a rough start of, let's say, much more force going on in the Middle East, much more force going on in Iran," he added. "They want the current condition to hold, whatever exactly you call it."
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