Evidence emerges that regretful Trump voters looking to punish GOP: 'Not just the House'
Donald Trump speaks at a U.S. Treasury Department summit. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
February 17, 2026
New evidence is emerging that some Donald Trump voters now regret their choice and wish they could get a do-over in the 2024 election.
CNN's Harry Enten showed fresh polling that indicates some Trump voters are so unhappy with the president that they plan to take out their frustrations on the Republican Party in November's midterm.
"Yeah, regrets? Some folkshad a few," Enten said, quoting from Frank Sinatra's signature song, "My Way." "What are we talkingabout here? Well, let's justtake a look here, okay, choicefor 2024 presidential election.The actual [result] was Donald Trumpwinning by about a point and ahalf, it rounds to a point. Buttake a look here in a polledredo between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in April of 2025,it was within the margin oferror, right, Kamala Harris by apoint."
"But look at where we arenow: According to an NBC News/Survey Monkey poll, Kamala Harris wins in a redo, askingfolks, essentially, if you couldredo the 2024 election, howwould you vote?" Enten added. "She wins it by, get this, eightpoints, a massive shift fromwhat we saw back in November of2024, when Donald Trump won by apoint, and I will note that thissample was weighted tothe 2024 result in which Donald Trump won by a point."
That might be a consolation prize for Harris, but it should also be a warning sign to Republican congressional candidates, he said.
"Thefact is the 2024 election isgone goodbye, but it has amassive impact on votersentiment on what may happenlater this year," Enten said. "Why do I saythat? Because let's take a lookat the vote for Congress, andthis is very important, allright, 2024 Harris voters. Theyvote for the Democrats onaverage by, get this, 89 points.The Trump voters mostly stick bythe Republicans, but by asignificantly smaller margin, by83 points."
"This means that the Democratic base that voted for Kamala Harris is sticking withthose congressional Democraticcandidates to a much greaterdegree than those Trump votersare sticking with the Republicancandidates for Congress," Enten added. "Andthat is why what you're seeingon that generic congressionalballot is Democrats leapingahead by aboutfive points, because. At least atthis point, the Trump voters arenot sticking by the Republicansas much as the Harris voters aresticking by the Democrats."
The same phenomenon seems to playing out among voters who did cast ballots in 2024, he said.
"Okay, so part of theequation, right, is that the Harris voters are reallysticking with those Democraticcandidates, more so than theTrump voters aresticking with the Republicancandidates," Enten said. "But it's more thanthat. It's also people comingoff of the sideline, okay, voterschoice for election for the 2026congressional elections if theydidn't vote in 2024. Look atthis: Democrats are winning thatvote by a significant margin, by16 percentage points. So you addon to that, the Harris voterssticking with the Democraticcandidates, all of a sudden, yousee hey, this is the way that Democrats are going to get backtheir congressional majority, and more than that, I will note,that in 2024, of course, the Trump voters, or the people whovoted for Trump, he actually wona larger share of those non-2020voters."
"So it's not just whatwe're seeing here, historicallyspeaking, that, hey, non-votersvote Democrats," he added. "That was not thecase in 2024, and when you putit all together, youput all of this together, what do we get? It's not justthe House, it's the Senate aswell. Democrats' chance to winthe Senate a year ago was 19 percent,according to Kalshi, 30 percent sixmonths ago, and now Democratshave a 40 percent chance of taking backthe U.S. Senate."