CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten cautioned Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday that former President Donald Trump may be difficult to defeat because of the jump in his favorability compared to past campaigns.
Harris is beating Trump by a margin of 50% to 46% among likely voters in the key swing states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to a set of The New York Times/Siena College polls released Saturday. Enten, on “CNN News Central,” reported his aggregate of favorability ratings shows Trump is more popular than he was at this point in 2016 and 2020, suggesting the Harris campaign should question how strong their chances of defeating him are.
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CNN’s Harry Enten Warns Harris Campaign Trump May Be ‘Tough To Put Away’ Because Of His Popularity Surge pic.twitter.com/Sc0ScxJ0Rc
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“If you’ve been following the campaigns of Donald Trump through the years, you know that he’s won or came close to winning despite the fact that he was not a popular individual … Look at this, he was at 33% in 2016, a campaign he went on to win. In 2020, it was at 41% and now he’s at 44%,” Enten said.
“For the Trump campaign, the question is, ‘wait a minute, our guy is more popular basically than he’s ever been. And yet he seems to be falling behind in the polls. How do we change that? Is it possible to change that?’” the data reporter continued.
Enten said in July that Trump’s popularity reached a new high after the failed assassination attempt against him and the Republican National Convention.
“The question for the Harris campaign is, ‘wait a minute, maybe we shouldn’t take things for granted because Trump has won when he has been so unpopular in the past, and now he’s more popular than he’s basically ever been. Maybe this guy really is going to be tough to put away,’” he said on Wednesday. “And I think that is going to be the very interesting question going down the sort of finale of this campaign … Is Harris not beating Trump enough? Or is she going to have to maintain her high favorable ratings that she’s been seeing?”
Featured Image Credit: Office of Governor Tim Walz & Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan
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