CNN's Harry Enten presented new polling that shows President Donald Trump's standing among one crucial voter group has cratered — and his colleague reacted to those "eye-popping" numbers.
The 79-year-old will deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday night, and Enten said the occasion finds Trump deep underwater in public approval.
"Look at allthe pre-[address] polls, the State of the Union, look at this, okay," Enten said. "We'reat this point, look at that, minus-27points, my goodness gracious.The snow is up to the knees herein New York City and Trump seemsto be well underneath it at thispoint. Compare that to where hewas in 2020, 2019 and 2018, going into those unions,minus-10, way lower now, minus-15, waylower now.
"The bottom line is this: Donald Trump has never been weakergoing into a State of the Unionaddress, according to our CNNpolling, than he is right now,and weaker by a considerableamount."
"It's not justthat Donald Trump is breakingrecords compared to himself whenit comes to State of the Unions," Enten added. "He'sbreaking records compared toother presidents at this pointgoing into a State of the Union.What are we talking about? Lookat all the 21st-centurypresidents on your screen righthere about at this point, asecond term going into the Stateof the Union. Trump at minus-27points, Obama was at minus-15 points, George W. Bush was at minus-11 points. You don't have to be amathematical genius to know that minus-27 points is considerably lowerthan minus-15 or minus-11."
Trump's steep drop in approval is being driven by independent voters losing trust in his leadership, Enten said.
"Talking aboutthe lowest Trump has ever beengoing into the State of the Union, the lowest that anypresident has been this century,going into a State of the Unionat this point in theirpresidency," Enten said. "It is also theweakest that Donald Trump hasever been with independents.Look at this drop: We've beentalking about it the past fewmonths. A yearago, Donald Trump was at minus-13points. Look at this: minus-47 pointsamong independents, the lowest Donald Trump has ever been ineither of his two terms aspresident with independents."
"That is driving these numbers," he added. "When you're 47 pointsunderwater with independents,that's the name of the game – youcan't be above water overall, and that's why Donald Trump isnear record lows overall and thelowest he's ever been goinginto a State of the Unionaddress."
"CNN News Central" host John Berman was stunned by those findings.
"Those numbers withindependents [are] just eye poppingthere," Berman said.