One demographic is ‘ripping the heart out of Trump’s presidency,’ pollster warns
Por Joe Sommerlad — – World RSS Feed
One demographic is ‘ripping the heart out of Trump’s presidency,’ pollster warns
A group that helped propel Trump’s return to the White House in 2024 are leaving him in droves, according to CNN
Joe Sommerlad Wednesday 30 September 2026 11:41 BST
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President Donald Trump is being deserted by white non-college-educated voters ahead of the midterms, a phenomenon that is “ripping the heart out” of his presidency, according to CNN’s data analyst Harry Enten.
Speaking to John Berman on CNN News Central Tuesday, Enten was asked why the president had promised a new $15 billion steel plant in Iowa Monday.
“The target group of voters is white, non-college voters,” he answered. “They were the heartbeat of President Trump’s three presidential campaigns. And right now, the heartland is ripping the heart out of Donald Trump’s presidency.”
Enten pointed out that, two years ago, he was 25 points up on presidential rival Kamala Harris but is now on just -2.
“He’s now in the negative with white non-college voters!” he said. “He’s in the negative territory with a group of voters that fueled his three presidential bids and allowed him to win a second term in the White House back in 2024.
open image in gallery“We’re talking a drop here with the key core group of Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns, of 27 points away from the president of the United States. No wonder he’s so low.”
Asked how the situation compared with other presidents, Enten said that Trump is “more reliant on white non-college voters than any previous Republican president, and now he’s at the lowest of any Republican president, at this point in his second term among white non-college voters.”
He said that neither George W Bush nor Ronald Reagan nor Dwight D Eisenhower was as dependent on the group as Trump “and now even they have turned on him.”
Enten added that Bush had lost the House of Representatives and the Senate in his second-term midterms “in large part because a lot of voters who had previously been voting Republican decided to vote Democratic.”
The analyst concluded that the economy was the reason for the demographic’s disaffection with Trump, suggesting they had “decided to give [him] a second chance” because they had lost faith in Joe Biden’s stewardship of the economy – and now appear to feel his successor has proven no better.
“Oh my goodness gracious!” Enten said as he flashed up a graphic showing Trump’s approval rating on inflation with the group sliding from 24 points to -39.
open image in gallery“That’s a change of 63 points in the wrong direction, on the key issue that got Donald Trump re-elected to a second term, among the key group that got him re-elected,” he said.
Enten’s broadcasts have often made for uncomfortable viewing for the president in recent months, with the analyst last week presenting a 50 percent job disapproval rating for him and commenting: “They don’t just dislike him. There’s record hatred for the president of the United States going into a midterm.”
However, Trump himself posted a clip of Enten on Truth Social Tuesday in which he could be seen marveling at how solid his support is with MAGA die-hards, with whom he retains a 98 percent approval rating, down just one percent in two years, their faith seemingly unshakeable.
The same excerpt was also played by Jesse Watters on Fox News in a segment headed: “No cracks in the MAGA wall.”
The White House has similarly pointed The Independent towards a recent Economist/YouGov poll highlighting his ongoing popularity among his base, which found 91 percent approval among MAGA voters, 79 percent among Republicans generally and 75 percent among people who voted for him in 2024.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told The Independent: “No one can dispute the fact that President Trump has created one of the most robust coalitions in political history with the MAGA movement, and the president understands how to communicate with them.”
He characterized November’s vote as a clear choice between “doubling down on President Trump’s winning, commonsense agenda or the Democrats’ extreme liberal policies and obstruction.”
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