CNN Data Guru Blown Away by Trump’s ‘Magic Touch’ Endorsement Record: ‘He’s a Tom Brady!’

CNN data analyst Harry Enten reached for the sports metaphors Thursday morning while marvelling at President Donald Trump’s endorsement record, comparing the president’s influence to Tom Brady and Babe Ruth as Texas Republicans gear up for a high-stakes Senate showdown.

Discussing the looming run-off contest between incumbent Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Enten predicted that Trump’s backing will prove decisive.

“You know Trump yesterday on Truth Social essentially said when I endorse it’s a very big deal because for the people that I endorse the endorsees almost always win and as it turns out the president is correct on this,” Enten began.

The numbers, he noted, suggest Trump’s record in Republican primaries is nothing short of extraordinary.

“He is a GOAT when it comes to Republican primaries. He’s a Tom Brady. He is a Babe Ruth,” Enten exclaimed, pointing to data showing Trump-backed candidates winning 98% of GOP primaries in 2020, 95% in 2022 and 96% in 2024 across congressional and gubernatorial contests.

Even when Trump backs challengers running against incumbents, the analyst added, typically a difficult path in party primaries, those candidates “win a majority of the time,”

Enten quipped. “President Trump’s endorsement is as good as gold in Republican primaries.”

Anchor John Berman joked the comparison might even undersell the president’s success: “When you compare it to Tom Brady, he actually does better than Tom.”

Enten argued the president’s influence reflects unusually strong loyalty among Republican voters, explaining that “love” for Trump within his own party at this stage of a second term trounces that for any prior president.

“On party supporters, 21st century presidents’ own party approval about at this point in a second term, [George W.] Bush was at 77%, [Barack] Obama was at 77%,” Enten said, pointing at the board. “Look at this: 86% of Republicans approve of the job that Donald Trump is doing at this point. That is higher than either Obama or Bush had within their own party.”

He added: “At this point, Trump’s magic touch has not seemed to worn off yet when it comes to the Republican base.”

The analyst went further, pointing out that Trump was “the only one” with a majority of supporters offering “strong approval” at this point in their presidency.

“Obama was at 48%. Bush was at 47%. You see here Trump at 53%,” he said. “Not as high as overall approval rating, but still getting a majority of the Republican base, at least in the average of polls, to say that they still really really, really like him.”

Trump hasn’t yet tipped his hand in the Texas race, but prediction markets already think they know where it’s going. Enten noted that betting odds for Cornyn to win the GOP nomination rocketed from 24% to 85% amid expectations the former president could soon throw his endorsement behind him.

“The markets believe what we saw on slide number one, which is Trump’s endorsement is very, very important,” Enten concluded. “He’s a GOAT.”

Watch above via CNN.

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