'Big beautiful night': CNN polling expert predicts midterm bonanza for Dems
Harry Enten on Big Beautiful Bill approval rating (CNN Screenshot)
June 17, 2025
CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten claims Republicans are unhappy with President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” and it could cause one “big, beautiful night” for Democrats in next year's midterm elections.
“I'm really, really surprised when I look at polling data," Enten said. "I look at it every day, but the amount of disapproval for [the big beautiful bill] Holy cow! My goodness gracious. We’re talking about 29 points underwater on the net favorable rating [in the KFF poll]. But that matches the Quinnipiac University poll from last week, when it was 26 points underwater. Oh my God, you need Greg Louganis to get that far underwater.”
The Louganis joke is a reference to the four-time Olympic gold medalist who is considered the greatest diver in history.
Enten went on to mention how unpopular this legislation is with the Republican Party. “There is a large chunk of the republican party that is not in favor of this bill. So this is the GOP with an unfavorable view of this, and what we see here is look at this, 23% are opposed, have an unfavorable rating of the big beautiful bill.”
For perspective, Enten compared those numbers to Trump's own popularity.
“Trump's unfavorable rating with the GOP is 9 percent,” he said, “So this is more than double. All of a sudden, you're taking a huge chunk of that MAGA base, of that Republican base that has turned against this bill. It is not just Elon Musk, it is not just Ron Johnson, the Senate Republican from Wisconsin. It is a large chunk of the Republican base.”
“I will note that in the KFF poll, the unfavorable view [for the big beautiful bill] get this 36 percent," Enten added. "You rarely ever see anything that Donald Trump backs get that high of an unfavorable view among Republicans, but here it is with the big beautiful bill.”
The chief data analyst later said the bill, “is far more unpopular than those tax cuts were back in 2017. And remember, Republicans lost the House in 2018. So if this is the big beautiful bill and maybe a big beautiful bill for Democrats if it passes, because they'll have a big, beautiful night come midterm night of 2026.”
Watch the full segment here or below: