CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten has become an unexpected star at President Donald Trump’s rallies this fall.
In state after state, Trump has shown a montage of Enten’s appearances on CNN, highlighting moments when Enten has highlighted the president’s enduring popularity among self-professed MAGA Republicans.
The CNN video clips have been played at rallies at least 16 times during this month’s midterm blitz. Trump often stands and watches the clips on a giant screen while rallygoers cheer Enten’s remarks. Sometimes Trump says “wow” or “thank you, CNN” after the montage is played.
But the clips are devoid of any context and can easily leave viewers with a misimpression of Trump’s real political standing. So I asked Enten about the montage and its relevance to the impending midterm election. Our conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Stelter: You’re the data guy, so let’s start with some numbers: Roughly how many TV segments and videos have you made about the midterms this year?
Enten: Oh my… well, let’s think about this… There have been over 300 days in 2026 so far… I am on TV pretty much every day, including weekends. I’ve taken off some time… but I think 300 segments is a fair starting point.
It may be more! Maybe much more, but let’s play it conservatively.
Stelter: Clearly the president has been watching some of those segments. Last year, he name-checked you but butchered your name. This year, he’s been pronouncing it correctly. He likes to say “even CNN” is reporting something flattering about him, and then he’ll invoke you. Is that surreal for you?
Enten: Well, if you had told me a decade ago that I would a) be on CNN, and b) the president of the United States would be playing clips of mine at his rallies… I don’t think I would have bought it for a minute. I’d put the chance at 1 in a million… and that may have been high.
Stelter: So about those clips: Why does he keep playing them?
Enten: Because he believes it shows him to be popular. The Trump brand is all about winning, and those clips, in his mind, show him winning.
Stelter: What are you saying in the clips?
Enten: Well, I believe there are two clips he plays… Maybe three. Gotta be honest, I spend my free time watching episodes of “Blossom.” But one, I think, is a clip about how approval with MAGA is basically matching his support he received from them in 2024. Another is support for GOP House candidates is basically matching Trump’s support from 2024. The third is how, among the GOP, he is by far the most admired president . He beats out Reagan and Lincoln.
Stelter: Everything you said in those clips was true at the time, of course. But is some of the info outdated at this point?
Enten: I haven’t seen another “most admired” poll, but I bet Trump still leads that handily.
He’s slightly lower with the MAGA GOP than he was, but the MAGA GOP support for congressional GOP candidates is the same, if not a little higher. That is per Fox News polling.
Of course, MAGA GOP is just a portion of the electorate.
Stelter: That’s really the key, right? Trump keeps conflating “MAGA Republicans” with all Republicans. What proportion of Republicans don’t ID as MAGA?
Enten: It depends on the poll. But I think it’s safe to say a sizable minority do not identify as MAGA. Among non-MAGA GOP, Trump is actually underwater in some polls.
Stelter: Is “MAGA Republican” even a useful category? Isn’t it just like measuring Trump’s approval rating?
Enten: Want to know the story about why I started pulling the metric?
Enten: So the reason, as I recall, was that in the early days of the Iran War, there was all this talk about how MAGA was infighting because of the war. This got me thinking, “Is this actually true?” There really wasn’t.
MAGA is a self-defined category, right? But the people who were opting in loved Trump. I think it’s useful insofar as helping us understand MAGA essentially equals Trump. If that ever changes, it would be interesting.
Stelter: Agreed. Now you’re on TV every day previewing the midterms, talking about many other metrics. Trump doesn’t promote those segments for obvious reasons: You’re showing that his party is in big trouble, electorally speaking. Does that have a lot to do with MAGA GOP versus non-MAGA GOP?
Enten: There are two reasons the GOP is in major trouble.
The first is what you pointed out about non-MAGA GOP. James Talarico, for example, is getting a substantial portion of that vote in Texas.
The second is independents. Trump’s the least popular president going into a midterm on record with independents. He’s even less popular than Nixon was before he was forced out in August of 1974.
Democrats for Congress are rolling with independents. They may put up their best margin with them in any election in the exit poll era — i.e., nearly 50 years of congressional exit polls.
Stelter: We both know why Trump isn’t airing clips of you saying that at his rallies. But do you think he’s misleading rallygoers by cherry-picking some of your points about his base support?
Enten: Here’s what I’ll say: I think you can watch my segments, short and long. The MAGA GOP is just a small part of them. They help tell a story, but it’s not the full story.
