CNN data analyst Harry Enten is pushing back on claims of a growing fracture within the Republican base, arguing that new polling shows continued and near-total loyalty to President Donald Trump among self-identified MAGA voters, even as a high-profile rift plays out on the right over Iran.
Speaking on CNN, Enten pointed to what he described as a number that “jumps off the screen”: Trump’s approval rating among MAGA Republicans sits at 100%, with zero percent disapproving. “You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to know you can’t go higher than 100%,” Enten said, comparing Trump’s standing within the movement to the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins.
Enten also dismissed the idea that the figure is being inflated by an exodus of disaffected voters. According to the polling he cited, “The MAGA base within the GOP is not shrinking. If anything, it is slightly larger,” rising from 28% to 30%.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
There&#8217;s no break in MAGA. Trump&#8217;s approval with MAGA GOP is literally 100%.
90% of MAGA GOP approve of US military action in Iran.
Those who disapprove of Trump are not MAGA at this point.
Importantly: MAGA makes up the same share of voters as it did when Trump won in 2024. <a href="https://t.co/LqMRHm8t1B">pic.twitter.com/LqMRHm8t1B</a>
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) <a href="https://twitter.com/ForecasterEnten/status/2034294893929968050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
But that analysis is colliding with an increasingly visible backlash from prominent voices on the right, who argue that Trump’s posture toward Iran cuts against core promises that defined the MAGA movement. Tucker Carlson blasted the policy in stark terms, <a href="https://abcnews.com/US/trumps-iran-decision-sparks-backlash-tucker-carlson-maga/story?id=130622270">calling it</a> “absolutely disgusting and evil,” adding: “This is Israel’s war. This is not the United States’s war. This war’s not being waged on behalf of American national security objectives.”
Carlson further warned the conflict “will be catastrophic” and could “end Trump’s presidency” or “shuffle the deck in a profound way.” Donald Trump responded directly, <a href="https://x.com/jonkarl/status/2029650210125652143">saying</a> Carlson “has lost his way” and declaring “he’s not MAGA.”
In the same camp, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene argued the move represents a fundamental break from the movement’s original platform.“We said on every single rally stage, no more foreign wars, no more regime change … this is a complete betrayal of those campaign promises,” Greene <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/16/politics/video/cnn-sitroom-pamela-brown-mtg-marjorie-taylor-greene-trump-president-war-iran-campaign">said</a>. “This is absolutely absurd. And it’s 100% a betrayal to what MAGA was supposed to be when we voted in 2024, and it’s turned into some perverted, deranged version of MAGA now that nobody wants.” 
Despite that rhetoric, Enten argued the available data does not show a measurable break within Trump’s base. Citing Republican views on potential U.S. military action in Iran, Enten said 90% of MAGA Republicans approve, compared to 54% of non-MAGA Republicans. Among MAGA voters, just 5% expressed disapproval.
“Those who disapprove… they ain’t MAGA,” Enten said.
The disconnect highlights a broader question emerging from the debate: whether the current divide represents a genuine fracture within the Republican electorate, or a loud but limited conflict among high-profile figures and online activists.
Critics of Enten’s analysis could argue that topline polling may not fully capture shifts in enthusiasm or intensity, particularly on an issue like foreign policy that has historically divided Republican factions. Supporters, meanwhile, can point to the numbers as evidence that Trump’s hold on the movement remains intact. For now, the data and the discourse appear to be telling two different stories, one of consolidation, and one of conflict, with the true state of the MAGA coalition to be tested in the midterms this November.

Donald Trump

CNN Pollster Admits It: Reports Of MAGA’s Death Have Been Grossly Exaggerated

Media

Politics

Polls

As the 2026 midterm elections approach, Democrats are fighting to claim the majority in one or both chambers of Congress. But, according to a recent poll, the Democratic Party is polling below almost every key figure and organization — with the exception of the brutal Iranian regime.
<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/27777984-nbc-news-march-2026-poll-03-08-2024-release-final/">An NBC News poll</a>, published by the legacy news outlet on March 8, asked a number of standard questions regarding the economy, military action in Iran, and the overall performance thus far of President Donald Trump — but it also ranked a number of key figures and organizations based on their net favorability.
The Democratic Party, with a net favorability rating of -22, ranked near the bottom of the list — in fact, only the Iranian regime ranked below the Democrats, albeit with a much lower net favorability of -53. Pope Leo the 14th ranked highest overall with a net favorability of 34.
President Donald Trump (-12) and the Republican Party (-14) were near the middle of the list — and as far as 2028 presidential contenders, Republicans fared far better than Democrats did there as well. Two of the most likely Democratic primary candidates — former Vice President Kamala Harris at -17 and Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feminist-hero-katie-couric-asks-gavin-newsom-if-hes-too-hot-to-be-president-in-hard-hitting-interview">Gavin Newsom</a> (D-CA) at -18 — ranked decidedly lower than current Vice President JD Vance (-11) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (-7). Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who is rumored to be considering either a presidential bid or a move to unseat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, was the only Democrat to break into the top half of the list, tying with Vance at -11.
The poll surveyed 1000 registered voters, just over half of whom were female. They were evenly divided along political lines, with 42% saying they leaned Republican, 42% saying they leaned Democrat, and the rest identifying themselves as either independent or other.
As to the other questions, just under half (44%) said they approved of President Trump&#8217;s performance thus far, and 54% disapproved. On border security specifically, the president fared much better, with just over half (53%) approving of his actions and a little less than half (44%) disapproving. On foreign policy, 43% approved and 54% disapproved — a slight shift from one year prior, when 45% approved and 53% disapproved. On the war in Iran, more than one-third (41%) approved of the president&#8217;s actions, and just over half (54%) disapproved.
A number of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/odds-have-gone-plummeting-down-cnn-data-guru-says-democrat-hopes-of-flipping-house-are-fading">polls</a> in recent months have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/voters-abandon-democrats-support-hits-lowest-level-in-more-than-three-decades-poll">spelled trouble</a> for the Democrats, with one from The Wall Street Journal (in July of 2025) noting that Democrats had sunk to their lowest approval rating in decades, with well over half (63%) holding a negative view of the party.

Kamala Harris

Democrats Only Outrank Despotic Iranian Regime In Recent NBC Poll

Democrats

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Iran

JD Vance

Marco Rubio

Republicans

While critics of President Donald Trump&#8217;s foreign policy push the narrative that his Iran strikes are dividing MAGA, a closer look at the data suggests that any cracks are at the surface rather than deep in the president&#8217;s Republican base.
The RealClearPolitics <a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/donald-trump/issues/military-action-iran">Average</a> showed that overall support for Operation Epic Fury, the joint military campaign undertaken by the United States and Israel over the weekend, had the president underwater a bit with 39% approving of the action and 52% disapproving.
A breakdown of some of the individual polls showed that Republicans were united on the issue, with no one poll showing more than 18% opposing military action in Iran. The vast majority of the disapproval came from Democrats — who were also fairly united — and, to a lesser extent, independents.
A <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-trump-administration-iran-war-goals/">CBS/YouGov</a> poll taken between March 2 and March 3, for example, showed that just 10% of Democrats approved of military action in Iran and 90% disapproved. Among independents, 63% opposed the action and 37% were in favor. A majority of Republicans (85%) supported military action and just 15% did not.
A similar result came from a <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16eShJoxX7NNcoSPkAsymnz8loVbgDrC9HztvcTpS22Y/edit?gid=0#gid=0">Washington Post poll</a> taken on March 1, which showed Democrat opposition at 87% and support at 9%. On the Republican side, 81% approved and 12% did not — and independents once again fell in the middle, with 59% against military action and 28% in favor of it.
A <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2026-03/Reuters%20Ipsos%20Iran%20Airstrike%20Topline%203.1.2026.pdf">Reuters/Ipsos</a> survey followed the same pattern, with 5% of Democrats supporting military action in Iran and 95% against it. Republicans came out largely in favor of military action, showing 82% approving and 18% disapproving. Among independents, 67% disapproved and 29% supported the action.
The apparent outlier included in the average was a poll from <a href="https://insideradvantage.com/iran-flash-survey-top-line-tabs/">InsiderAdvantage</a> taken on February 28, but it still showed similar numbers from Republicans: 79.3% in favor and 12% opposed. The numbers for Democrats shifted slightly, with 62.5% disapproving and 32.1% approving. Independents also showed much higher numbers in favor of military action, with 45.3% supporting and 40.3% opposing.
Sentiments had been moving in Trump&#8217;s favor, if only slightly, just prior to the first strikes, however. A <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-poll-americans-views-on-iran-prior-to-conflict/">CBS/YouGov</a> poll taken on February 24 showed 47% in favor of Trump taking military action to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and 53% opposed. Just three days later, 51% were in favor and 49% opposed.
A <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-views-divided-us-action-against-iran">Fox News poll</a> conducted between February 28 and March 2 showed overall approval and disapproval deadlocked at 50% on either side — but also showed that a majority (61%) view Iran as a national security threat.
Among Republicans, as in the other polls, the sentiment lies primarily (84%) on the side of taking military action against Iran. Among independents, support for military action was just under half, at 40% — and only 20% of Democrats were in favor.
The Fox News poll went a bit deeper as well, noting that among those who had served in the military, a majority (59%) favored the campaign against the Iranian regime and 39% opposed it.

President Trump Delivers The State Of The Union Address

MAGA Unity: Polls Show Republicans Opposed To Trump’s Iran Strikes Are Loud, Small Minority

MAGA Unity: Republicans Opposed To Trump Iran Strikes Are Loud, Small Minority

Military

Most Americans say the Supreme Court of the United States was right to block much of President Donald Trump’s sweeping emergency tariffs, a decision on an issue that has exposed sharp divisions among Republicans and prompted open celebration from Democrats.
A <a href="https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/54148-most-americans-approve-of-the-supreme-court-striking-down-trumps-tariffs">YouGov</a> survey released Friday found that 60 percent of U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” approve of the Court’s ruling, compared to 23 percent who disapprove and 17 percent who are unsure. Democrats backed the decision overwhelmingly at 88 percent, while 63 percent of independents also approved. Republicans were more divided: 43 percent disapproved, while 30 percent said they approve.
The ruling came Friday morning in a 6–3 decision against Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners. Trump became the first president to rely on the nearly 50-year-old statute for such broad import taxes. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts concluded that IEEPA does not authorize the president’s tariff regime.
The Court declined to address whether previously collected tariffs must be refunded, leaving that question to lower courts. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee who joined the majority, has previously warned that refunds could become “a mess,” a concern echoed in dissent by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.
The <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55693d60e4b06d83cf793431/t/6998a0b0febd02741b8399d0/1771610288746/Supreme+Court+Tariff+Ruling+IEEPA+Revenue+and+Potential+Refunds.pdf">Penn Wharton Budget Model</a> estimates the ruling could put as much as $175 billion in tariff revenue at risk, noting that importers typically have 180 days after goods are liquidated to file refund claims with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Reactions among Republican leaders ranged from constitutional praise to outright condemnation of the Court.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) applauded the ruling, writing on <a href="https://x.com/SenRandPaul/status/2024875042912285053">X</a> that the Court “defended the Constitution” by rejecting the use of emergency powers to impose taxes. “Tariffs are taxes and the power to declare them belongs to the Congress,” Paul added, warning that the precedent would have empowered future administrations to govern “by decree.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Supreme Court makes plain what should have been obvious: “The power to impose tariffs is “very clearly a branch of the power to tax.” <a href="https://t.co/FBjYD29Dfn">pic.twitter.com/FBjYD29Dfn</a>
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenRandPaul/status/2024873705478758639?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Vice President JD Vance, by contrast, <a href="https://x.com/JDVance/status/2024928034667545067">blasted</a> the ruling as judicial overreach. “This is lawlessness from the Court, plain and simple,” Vance wrote, arguing the decision would make it harder for presidents to protect American industries and supply chains.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) struck a more cautious tone, emphasizing that tariffs remain a viable policy tool. Thune <a href="https://x.com/LeaderJohnThune/status/2024909322388423065">said</a> Senate Republicans would continue working with the administration and House lawmakers to strengthen rural America, adding that Trump “has a wide range of other tariff powers and he will use them to defend American workers.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) similarly defended the president’s strategy, <a href="https://x.com/SpeakerJohnson/status/2024892242930884617">noting</a> that tariffs have “brought in billions of dollars and created immense leverage” for U.S. trade negotiations. “Congress and the Administration will determine the best path forward in the coming weeks,” Johnson said.
Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sided firmly with the Court, <a href="https://x.com/SenMcConnell/status/2024909495734808714">calling</a> the use of IEEPA “illegal” and warning that tariffs raise costs for American consumers, a reality he said Kentuckians know “better than most.”
Democrats were far less divided. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) <a href="https://x.com/RepJeffries/status/2024869850980421739">called</a> the ruling “a big victory for the American people” and “another crushing defeat for the wannabe King.” Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) <a href="https://x.com/timkaine/status/2024878481557844330">said</a> similarly of Trump’s plan, “tariffs were illegal, dumb, and harmful to families, farms, and small businesses. Americans don’t want tariffs, they want lower costs.”
Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House Friday afternoon, called the decision “disappointing” and criticized Barrett and Justice Neil Gorsuch, both of whom he appointed. “I don’t want to say whether I regret nominating them,” Trump said. “I think their decision was terrible.” He added that he was “proud” of Kavanaugh, saying the justice’s “stock has gone so up.”
Within hours of the ruling, Trump announced he had signed a new executive order imposing a 10 percent global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows temporary tariffs of up to 15 percent for 150 days to address large trade deficits.
The White House’s official X account responded more bluntly, posting: “Keep Calm and Tariff On.”

President Trump Departs White House For Florida

Republicans Divided As Tariff Debate Splits Voter Base After SCOTUS Decision

Executive

Supreme Court

Tariffs

President Donald Trump’s job approval rating has rebounded to levels slightly exceeding his 2024 election performance, according to a new national survey released this week.
An <a href="https://insideradvantage.com/trump-approval-exceeds-election-victory-margin-in-new-insideradvantage-national-survey-approve-50-disapprove-46/">InsiderAdvantage</a> poll of 800 likely voters conducted on Wednesday found Trump’s approval rating at 50 percent, with 46 percent disapproving and 4 percent undecided. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points.
The findings place Trump’s approval essentially in line with, or marginally above, his national popular vote showing in the November 2024 election against Kamala Harris, a benchmark closely watched by both parties as the administration enters its second year.
InsiderAdvantage pollster Matt Towery said the numbers reflect a recovery from a softer patch earlier in the year.
“After a period of weakness in his approval ratings, President Trump has come back to the 50% level, near to or exceeding his margin of victory against Kamala Harris in 2024,” Towery said in a statement accompanying the poll release.
Towery attributed the uptick to a combination of immigration enforcement and economic sentiment, arguing that recent developments have cut against expectations of political fallout.
“Basically it is a combination of ICE raids becoming orderly and strategic and obvious evidence that the economy is actually turning to the positive,” he said. “While the last government shutdown appeared to hurt Trump’s ratings, this one appears to be actually helping his numbers.”
Towery also pointed to methodological divides in the polling industry, noting that firms with stronger historical performance measuring Trump’s support are showing similar trends.
“There are clearly two camps of pollsters who utilize different methods of data collection and weighting,” he said. “But I would note that those firms who most accurately polled President Trump’s three elections use similar methodologies.”
Other polling firms have reported a comparable rise. Rasmussen Reports, which has frequently shown Trump outperforming consensus averages, has also <a href="https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration_second_term/trump_approval_index_history_second_term">recorded</a> an upward trend in the president’s approval in recent weeks.
The White House welcomed the numbers, framing them as validation of the administration’s economic and domestic agenda.
“President Trump is fighting hard every single day to make life affordable for working people — from delivering the largest middle-class working tax cuts in history, directing executive actions that made housing affordability hit a four-year high, and unleashing American energy dominance to bring the national average for a gallon of gas below $3,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, told The Daily Wire. “There is more to do, but President Trump is successfully delivering on his promise to Make America Affordable Again.”
Despite the improvement, the poll shows a return to a familiar political reality: a deeply polarized electorate. As Towery put it, “Basically the country is where it is when Trump was elected — highly polarized, but at the moment, more supportive of Trump than not.&#8221;

TOPSHOT-US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-TRUMP

YUGE: Why Trump’s Approval Could Be A Bigger Story Than 2024’s Votes

Elections

Republicans are beginning to panic as polls show them losing popularity before the upcoming midterm elections. In a party Zoom meeting to discuss the crisis, GOP Senator Samuel T. Schnorrer from the great state of Lassitude told his colleagues, “When I first saw the new numbers, I nearly lost my head. I started babbling like a crazy man about passing laws and cutting entitlement spending before it drives us into insolvency. Thank God my consultant was there to slap me in the face until I came to my senses and realized: if we start passing laws and all sorts of loony stuff like that, we might be blamed for the results. I think we just have to stick to the original game plan of shaking our fists at Democrats on Fox News.”
GOP Congressman Lorne Loveless from the persistent state of hysteria, blamed President Trump for the bad poll numbers, saying, “The president keeps doing things. Things are bad, especially when you do them. That’s why we do nothing. It literally means &#8216;no thing.&#8217; It’s right there in the word. Really, being a congressman is not that complex if you know how to speak English. Also you have to know when to stop speaking English before you actually say something and instead just keep shaking your fist at Democrats on Fox News.” 
The polls do confirm that Trump’s actions are alienating some people in the party’s coalition. According to one poll — Nikolai Kaminski — sixty-seven percent of Republicans feel Trump is not carrying out their wishes that he would make government smaller while not cutting any of their benefits, bring down prices while continuing to print massive amounts of money so they don’t lose any of their benefits, and deport illegal immigrants without making it hard to find someone to mow your lawn while you pay him crap wages and shout, “That’s mucho dinero, amigo!” because what the hell does he know, he doesn&#8217;t even speak English.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1266-how-we-fight?contentProgram=The%20Andrew%20Klavan%20Show&amp;contentType=ShowEpisode&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974735 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
According to another poll — Stanislaw Dabrowski — fifty-five percent of Independent voters feel the news under the Trump administration is far too chaotic and they yearn for the days when they could kick back in front of the TV and watch President Biden shuffle around aimlessly calling America racist while reporters marveled at his ability to lick an ice cream cone and fall down a flight of stairs at the same time.
In yet another poll — this one at the Spearmint Rhino Club in Oakland — seventy-five percent of Republicans who listen to Tucker Carlson blame Trump for sending Christian men to die for Israel in Carlson’s imagination. Ninety-five percent of Carlson’s listeners who named their first-born sons Adolf are also angry that Trump prevented the Iranian mullahs from acquiring nuclear weapons, which would’ve sure come in handy the next time their pagers blew their testicles off.
Finally, according to the traditionally reliable north poll, eleventy-six percent of readers of the New York Times, a former newspaper, are furious at the things they read about Trump doing in the Times and are deeply concerned he might start doing them in real life as well.
Democrats are seizing on these poll numbers to launch attacks on the administration that they feel will resonate with the public. Democrat strategist Lilith Abaddon rolled over in bed and told a reporter, “Affordability was a good issue until people discovered inflation was caused by president Biden printing massive amounts of money, before tripping over a sandbag, flying out the door, bumping into a little girl and burying his nose in her hair while calling half the electorate fascist. So now, we’ve cleverly switched to harping on deporting illegal immigrants who came swarming into the country by the millions while president Biden was falling off his bicycle and lying face down in the mud for three hours before anyone realized he was no longer running the country. Right now, we feel the idea of defunding ICE will be really popular with millions of poor refugees who came to this country simply looking for a better life with their 72 virgins in heaven.”
As for Republicans, they say they will continue to beat back the tide of unpopularity until their fists get tired from being shaken on Fox News.
* * *
This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.”
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fifth installment, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/After-That-Cameron-Winter-Mysteries/dp/1613166869/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3EGZUC370LG46&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Y_NI0mDOKeowShheDQTVx5NH-fAeimJoCD56_T0Acpl8C0mup7uJf-nGGSRLEItaaekoDnvS2vWLMa4Zd2UBXQ8Y-g-P502jOWz-Y8IX3ZQsdlO7WMLrg1xIhNoKmjCorSWUR4C2l_RbiZ7apJ1MfPzGOrrEf7AdAXX6xwnJRVP_XqUfWuMuVthTWscaU3P4vgmS86-96n-721enHfX12CFQWTajqFbVnrsDkexfUf4.6_gTH6h1Bb9Pn375QdF_VAVZSayDvjQBBKGXE-MTiFo&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=klavan&amp;qid=1754049918&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C80&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After That, The Dark,</a> is NOW AVAILABLE. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>.
The views expressed in this satirical piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Portrait of shocked senior man

Republicans Alarmed By New Poll Showing Voters Expect Results

2026 Midterms

Congress

Humor

Satire

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten named President Donald Trump the &#8220;kingmaker in chief,&#8221; at least when it came to his record on Republican primary endorsements.
Enten spoke with CNN anchor John Berman about Trump&#8217;s decision to back Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) in a potential primary match-up with incumbent Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and said that Trump was nearly undefeated in primaries featuring a candidate he&#8217;d endorsed.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Trump going with Julia Letlow over Cassidy in the Louisiana GOP Sen primary is a huge deal!
Trump&#8217;s the kingmaker GOP primaries (endorsees win 95%+ of the time). His approval rating with the GOP? ~90%!
When Trump goes against you, you go in the grinder to quote Good Burger. <a href="https://t.co/xPBi0swOiV">pic.twitter.com/xPBi0swOiV</a>
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) <a href="https://twitter.com/ForecasterEnten/status/2013294448159957312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;President Trump is the kingmaker in Republican primaries, that&#8217;s why it&#8217;s such a big deal,&#8221; an animated Enten explained to Berman on Monday. &#8220;Take a look here: times Trump endorsees won GOP primaries, these are congressional and gubernatorial. In 2020, it was 98%; in 2022, it was 95%; in 2024, it was 96%.&#8221;
&#8220;President Trump has the magic touch when it comes to endorsing in Republican primaries,&#8221; Enten continued. &#8220;And when he doesn&#8217;t endorse you, you go — to quote the great movie &#8216;Good Burger&#8217; — into the grinder!&#8221;
Trump offered his full-throated endorsement to Letlow via a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115913724519885202">Truth Social post</a> on Saturday, saying in part, &#8220;I know Julia well, have seen her tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and she is a TOTAL WINNER! A Proud Mother of two children, Julia is a wonderful person, has ALWAYS delivered for Louisiana, and would continue doing so in the United States Senate.&#8221;
&#8220;As your next Senator, Julia will work tirelessly to Grow our Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Support our Amazing Farmers and Fishermen, Champion Louisiana Oil &amp; Gas, Unleash American Energy DOMINANCE, Promote MADE IN THE U.S.A., Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Ensure LAW AND ORDER, Strengthen our Military/Veterans, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment,&#8221; Trump added.
Letlow has not officially launched a Senate campaign, but is reportedly considering a run.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-GOP

‘Kingmaker In Chief!’: CNN Pollster Says Trump Has 95% Win Rate In Primary Endorsements

'Kingmaker In Chief!': CNN Pollster Says Trump Has 95% Win Rate In Primary Endorsements

Harry Enten

Republican Primary

Border czar Tom Homan said on Thursday that the Trump administration needs to be &#8220;better at messaging&#8221; on Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations to push back on what he called &#8220;false&#8221; legacy media narratives.
Homan <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6387789141112">told</a> Fox News host Laura Ingraham that recent polls showing growing disapproval for Trump&#8217;s massive deportation operations are &#8220;egged on by the press.&#8221; Recent surveys conducted by the <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/01/15/trump-ice-foreign-policy-economy-immigration-polls">Associated Press</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/republicans-split-trumps-aggressive-immigration-crackdown-reutersipsos-poll-2026-01-15/">Reuters</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/14/politics/ice-minnesota-cnn-poll">CNN</a>, and <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3945">Quinnipiac</a> show Trump&#8217;s approval rating on immigration slipping, despite immigration being one of the top issues that helped him win the 2024 election.
“Tom, are you concerned about the CNN and Quinnipiac polls that show declining public support for ICE and President Trump’s approach to immigration enforcement? Do you think those are accurate, or are they being egged on by the press?” Ingraham asked.
&#8220;I think they’re being egged on by the press. I think there’s a lot of false media out there. And I think we need to be better at messaging at what we’re doing,&#8221; Homan replied. &#8220;Look, bottom line is 70% of everybody arrested is a criminal. We need to start advertising that every single day and put their pictures all over social media.&#8221;
&#8220;We just gotta push back the lies because a lot of people don&#8217;t get the facts,&#8221; he added. &#8220;And we gotta be better about getting the facts out there.&#8221;
As part of gaining an advantage in messaging, Homan also proposed creating a &#8220;database&#8221; of people who are arrested for impeding ICE operations.
&#8220;These people saying, follow ICE, film ICE — you can protest, they have that right. But when you cross that line, and we&#8217;ve proven it, if you interfere or impede or assault an ICE officer, you will be prosecuted,&#8221; Homan said.
He added that he wants to make people who are arrested for getting in the way of ICE operations &#8220;famous&#8221; and will have their faces &#8220;put on TV.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to make their employers and their communities and their schools know who these people are,&#8221; Homan continued.
Following the shooting death of Renee Good last week, protesters have followed ICE around the city, and in some cases, have confronted and impeded federal agents. Protesters in Minnesota were encouraged by Democratic Governor Tim Walz to record ICE activities to help the state &#8220;create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans&#8221; that could be used for &#8220;future prosecutions.&#8221;
Demonstrators surrounded federal law enforcement officers on Wednesday night following another ICE shooting, when an agent shot a Venezuelan illegal immigrant in the leg after the agent was attacked by three illegal immigrants, according to the Department of Homeland Security. During the protests following Wednesday night&#8217;s shooting, agitators threw fireworks at law enforcement, and authorities had to clear them out of the area with tear gas.
Some federal law enforcement vehicles were also vandalized on Wednesday night, and one video showed agitators breaking into an agent&#8217;s equipment box, which was in the back of a vehicle.
&#8220;If the hateful rhetoric doesn&#8217;t stop, there&#8217;s going to be more bloodshed. It&#8217;s not over,&#8221; Homan said. &#8220;What scares me the most is there&#8217;s going to be another death.&#8221;

Tom Homan

Border Czar Says Trump Admin Needs To Be ‘Better At Messaging’ To Combat ‘False’ ICE Narratives

Legacy Media

Minneapolis

Trump Administration

A record-high 45% of Americans identified as political independents last year, with both Democrats and Republicans tied at 27% in party identification, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.
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A record-high 45% of U.S. adults identified as political independents in 2025, surpassing the 43% measured in 2014, 2023 and 2024. <a href="https://t.co/1vKF7J2RnE">pic.twitter.com/1vKF7J2RnE</a>
— Gallup (@Gallup) <a href="https://twitter.com/Gallup/status/2010775854117171569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/700499/new-high-identify-political-independents.aspx">survey</a>, which interviewed 13,000 respondents over the course of 2025, found that 45% of Americans are political independents. Of that 45%, 20% lean Democratic, 15% lean Republican, and the remaining 10% expressed no partisan preference — a three-point decline in Republican leaners and a three-point increase in Democratic leaners compared with 2024.
The five-point Democratic advantage among independent leaners erodes what had been a key GOP edge during the 2024 election cycle, returning party identification to the levels seen in Trump&#8217;s first term.
Despite this unfavorable shift in party preference, more Americans in 2025 described their political views as &#8220;very conservative&#8221; or &#8220;conservative&#8221; (35%) than as &#8220;very liberal&#8221; or &#8220;liberal&#8221; (28%), with 33% identifying as &#8220;moderate.&#8221;
The Gallup poll showed a stark contrast in party identification across generations. Majorities of Gen Z adults (56%) and millennials (53%) identified as political independents in 2025, compared with just 33% of baby boomers and 30% of Silent Generation adults.
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In 2025, majorities of Gen Z adults and millennials identified as political independents, as did more than four in 10 Gen X adults.
One-third or less of baby boomers and Silent Generation adults were politically independent. <a href="https://t.co/5JxXbwqyuU">pic.twitter.com/5JxXbwqyuU</a>
— Gallup (@Gallup) <a href="https://twitter.com/Gallup/status/2011087055733080219?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The 56% of Gen Z adults identifying as independents today substantially exceeds the 47% of millennials who did so in 2012 and the 40% of Gen X adults in 1992.
Gallup notes that the shift does not indicate Americans are warming to the Democratic Party, as &#8220;favorable ratings of the Democratic Party are no better than those of the Republican Party.&#8221; Instead, the polling organization suggests these changes appear to be &#8220;a consequence of one party&#8217;s association with an unpopular incumbent president,&#8221; a pattern that has led to frequent changes in party power in recent federal election cycles.

Democrats vs. Republicans

Independent Voters Hit Record High As Both Parties Lose Ground: Poll

Democratic Party

polling

Republican Party

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten had to chuckle on Thursday morning when he looked at the latest poll numbers concerning whether or not the American people approve of the actions of Democrats currently in Congress.
Enten shared the grim news with anchor Kate Bolduan, noting that Democrats were going into a midterm year with dismal approval ratings — and attributed at least some of the disfavor to the recent government shutdown that ended without Democrats getting any of the things they&#8217;d set out to gain.
Enten shared video of the breakdown via X on Thursday, saying, &#8220;Cong Dems now have a -55 net approval, an all-time low &amp; lower than the Dead Sea. 2 causes: Dems gives them a -6 pt net approval(!), &amp; they&#8217;re at -61 pts with indies! The effect? Dems lead on the generic ballot is less than half of what it was at this [point] in the 06 &amp; 18 cycles.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Cong Dems now have a -55 net approval, an all-time low &amp; lower than the Dead Sea.
2 causes: Dems gives them a -6 pt net approval(!), &amp; they&#8217;re at -61 pts with indies!
The effect? Dems lead on the generic ballot is less than half of what it was at this pt in the 06 &amp; 18 cycles. <a href="https://t.co/Os17D7BkHR">pic.twitter.com/Os17D7BkHR</a>
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) <a href="https://twitter.com/ForecasterEnten/status/2001663474015916278?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Democrats, in the minds of the American public, are lower than the Dead Sea,&#8221; Enten began, laughing a bit as he added, &#8220;The net approval rating for Democrats in Congress? &#8230; The lowest ever. Look at this! Overall, they are 55 points underwater. Their approval rating is south of 20%. It’s even worse when you look at independents. Look at this: -61 points! That means that their approval rating is 61 points lower than their disapproval rating!&#8221;
&#8220;Quinnipiac has been polling this question for the better part of the 21st century. They have never found Democrats, at least those in Congress, in worse shape than they are right now,&#8221; Enten added.
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The longtime data analyst went on to say that the biggest problem for Democrats was that some of the decline in their popularity was coming from voters in their own party.
&#8220;This is Democrats on Democrats!&#8221; he exclaimed, and pointed out that Congressional Democrats had been up 22 points with their own voters in October — and had plummeted to -6 in just one month&#8217;s time. &#8220;That’s a 28-point decline! Falling through the floor!”
Enten attributed the dramatic shift to the shutdown and the fact that Democratic voters had not been happy with the way the shutdown had turned out — and he said that while he thought it was still possible for Democrats to turn the ship around and win control of the House in 2026, it wasn&#8217;t something they should take for granted.
&#8220;When you have numbers like this, hold the phone just a second,&#8221; he warned.

House Minority Leader Jeffries Holds Capitol Hill Press Conference

Even CNN’s Data Guru Has To Laugh As Dems Hit Lowest Approval Numbers Ever

Democrats currently have a massive advantage in Congress for 2026. According to the latest <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/11/19/nx-s1-5611088/poll-democrats-republicans-trump-approval-inflation">NPR/PBS News/Marist poll</a>, this is their largest advantage since 2017 in terms of whom people would vote for on the congressional ballot.
When you actually go to the polling place to cast your vote, you are not voting on a generic member of Congress, you are voting on your congressperson. Thus, it&#8217;s possible that widespread dissatisfaction with the Republican Party doesn&#8217;t necessarily translate into your individual congressperson losing his or her seat.
Democrats, however, currently hold a 14-point advantage in this poll — a very, very large advantage. If that were to stick in the generic congressional ballot, then we’re looking at a Democratic wave in 2026.
President Trump’s approval rating is just 39%, which is his lowest since right after January 6.
A combined 6 in 10 people blamed congressional Republicans or Trump for the government shutdown, which is likely the result of the legacy media spinning a completely Democrat-caused government shutdown into a story about President Trump and Republicans.
Nearly 6 in 10 say that Trump&#8217;s top priority should be lowering prices. No other issue comes close.
So, those are very bad numbers for the Republicans right now. What does that mean for the 2026 election? 
In fall 2022, Democrats had a lead in the generic congressional ballot. They ended up losing nine House seats to the Republicans. In 2018, during Trump&#8217;s first term, the Democrats’ lead was somewhere between 6 and 12 points, and they also ended up winning 40 seats. In 2014, when Obama was president, Republicans had a five-point advantage, and the GOP gained 13 seats. So, the number of actual vulnerable districts has shrunk dramatically.
So, even if Democrats have a gigantic advantage in the generic congressional balloting, the way the districts are stacked up, there are a lot more solid dem districts and a lot more solid Republican districts and fewer swing districts overall. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2322-uh-oh-democrats-pull-ahead-in-2026-race?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Democrats need three seats to take control of the House. So, what is the most likely outcome?
The upper end of disaster for Republicans would be 20 to 25 seats, which would put Democrats pretty solidly in control of the House. Now, it would take a massive Democratic wave for them to take over the Senate. The two most vulnerable seats are in Maine and in North Carolina.
Senator Susan Collins — who is frequently a target for many dyspeptic Republicans who don&#8217;t understand that if you want a Republican to hold the seat in Maine, that Republican is not going to look like Tom Cotton or Rick Scott — is a battler and a survivor up in Maine. She is the only Republican incumbent running in a state won by Kamala Harris in 2024. Collins is facing a radical democratic socialist, Graham Platner, who is a disaster area for a wide variety of reasons.
In North Carolina, the seat is open because Thom Tillis, a frequent target of the president, has decided that he is not going to run for reelection. Perhaps that seat swivels blue.
If the Democrats take both those seats, they still won’t have the upper hand because Republicans hold 53 seats, which means that in order for Democrats to take control of the Senate, they would need to take two more. It’s not totally out of the range of possibility for Democrats to win the Senate, but it would take a lot.
But losing the House would be bad enough; if the GOP loses the House, that&#8217;s the end of major legislation from the Trump administration. It means endless investigations. It means that the House becomes a baton to wield against everything the Trump administration is trying to do on the executive level.
There’s a brand new <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-approval-falls-lowest-his-term-over-prices-epstein-files-reutersipsos-poll-2025-11-18/">Reuters/Ipsos poll</a> that shows similar numbers, with Trump at 38%, which, again, is the lowest rating he has had since he returned to power in January.
Why is President Trump lagging in the polls now? Why is he at 39%-40%?
The reason is not what people think it is. It’s not his foreign policy or that Trump&#8217;s foreign policy is tearing apart the Republican Party. In fact, he only part of his policy right now that is wildly popular, at least by Trumpian standards, is his foreign policy. In fact, his approval ratings on foreign policy are better than any prior president of the modern era at this point in his term, which is extraordinary.
For the amount of crap that he is currently taking in the very online spaces, you guys should get out and touch grass. It turns out many Americans like the stuff that President Trump has been doing on foreign policy,
It isn&#8217;t immigration either. The president&#8217;s net approval ratings on immigration have gone down, but that&#8217;s largely because he has solved the immigration crisis in the United States. He solved the problem of the southern border. If Americans were thinking about the southern border in comparison to Biden, Trump’s approval ratings would be 80%.
The reason Trump’s approval ratings are low are two: The economy and the Epstein files.
He has slid 24 points since February of 2025 on the economy and 59% of Americans do not approve of his handling of the Epstein files.
The reason president Trump’s approval ratings have dropped on the Epstein files is because there are actors trying to use the Epstein files as a club against the president in order to seize control of the MAGA movement. That&#8217;s what&#8217;s happening.
Trump, however, has not done anything radically different from Joe Biden when it comes to Epstein. In fact, he has been significantly more transparent than Joe Biden ever was.
It’s notable that many of the big advocates on the Epstein matters are either directly implicated by the Epstein files, like Steve Bannon, or are people who had no qualms about Epstein and were not talking about Epstein a year and a half ago. There were no major motions from Rep. Thomas Massie, for example, to the Biden administration asking for the release of the Epstein files.
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Now there are a bunch of angry critics of the president&#8217;s foreign policy who are attempting to use the Epstein files as a way to undermine him.
That doesn&#8217;t mean people don&#8217;t have open questions; of course, that&#8217;s true. But the people who have elevated this to the top of the issue stack are people who, shall we say, do not like the president&#8217;s foreign policy decisions.
Why do you think Abby Phillip is now massaging Marjorie Taylor Greene? You can tell who&#8217;s getting the strange new respect these days when you&#8217;re on the same side as Abby Phillip.
There are also popular podcasters and voices who continue to malign the president without saying his name because they&#8217;re cowards who continue to say that the administration is covering up the Epstein files, but don’t say Trump&#8217;s name because they don&#8217;t want to offend Trump. They&#8217;re afraid that Trump will reach over like King Kong and crush them.
Instead, they simply imply and imply and imply, without just saying the thing they want to say, out of pure, unbridled cowardice.
It&#8217;s pretty impressive.
But it’s not right.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-GOVERNMENT-SHUTDOWN

Democrats Pull Ahead In 2026 Race

Ben Shapiro

Opinion

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

CNN data guru Harry Enten said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump was blowing his competition out of the water — both Republicans and Democrats — when it came to his approval rating with regard to foreign policy.
Enten spoke with CNN anchor John Berman about the latest numbers, which show Trump, nearly ten months into his second term, has a 43% approval rating on his foreign policy positions. Berman asked for context, wondering how Trump stacked up against past presidents in their respective second terms.
WATCH:
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Trump&#8217;s foreign approval rating is up like a rocket compared to term 1.
He has the highest foreign policy approval rating at this point in his term 2 of any 21st century president.
Big reason why: Israel-Hamas conflict. E.g. His net approval is 40 pts higher than Biden&#8217;s was. <a href="https://t.co/8rzNjCphEJ">pic.twitter.com/8rzNjCphEJ</a>
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) <a href="https://twitter.com/ForecasterEnten/status/1991165239224656200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;This is one of the areas in which Donald Trump is performing significantly better than he was in term one,&#8221; Enten explained, noting that during his first term in the White House, Trump&#8217;s approval rating on foreign policy had been significantly lower at 35%. &#8220;Up like a rocket, we&#8217;re talking about 43% now, that&#8217;s an eight-point rise. On the net approval rating, that&#8217;s a double-digit rise.&#8221;
Berman noted that it was almost expected for presidents in their second terms to pivot to foreign policy and do whatever they can to cement their legacies before leaving office — and he asked Enten how Trump stacked up in that regard.
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Enten showed a graphic comparing Trump to the two other 21st-century presidents who served two terms — George W. Bush and Barack Obama — who had foreign policy approval ratings of 36% and 37% respectively, at the same point in their second terms.
&#8220;This is something I think Donald Trump really likes to look at because the bottom line is this presidents like to build their legacies off of foreign policy, and at this particular point the American people like much more of what Donald Trump’s doing on foreign policy than either of the two other twenty-first century presidents who serve at least — or served two terms,&#8221; Enten explained.
Berman asked whether Trump&#8217;s high marks on that particular issue had anything to do with how he&#8217;d responded to the war between Israel and the Hamas terrorists controlling Gaza, and Enten said it had likely been a major factor.
&#8220;The American people liked what Trump was able to do between the Israelis and Hamas,&#8221; he said — and pointed to Trump&#8217;s net approval on the Israel-Hamas conflict (+3) compared to former President Joe Biden&#8217;s (-37). &#8220;Joe Biden was 37 points below water by the end of his presidency.&#8221;

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