‘My Goodness’: CNN’s Harry Enten Breaks Down Majority’s ‘Pessimism’ About Trump’s Economy

CNN data analyst Harry Enten pointed to some new polling to explain that Americans aren’t buying President Donald Trump’s “spin” when it comes to the economy.

Trump campaigned last year in large part on bringing prices down after inflation spiked to a 40-year high during the Biden administration. However, prices on many staples remain high, thanks partly to the tariffs Trump unilaterally imposed on dozens of countries in April. Poll after poll released by various outlets consistently show most Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance, including his handling of the economy. Despite this, Trump has given the economy a grade of “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.”

On Monday’s CNN News Central, hosted by Kate Bolduan, Enten highlighted a new Reuters/Ipsos poll that shows that a majority of Americans now believe the country is on the wrong track:

Donald Trump was elected to solve the economic crisis, to solve the pricing crisis. But at this particular point, these numbers are going in the complete wrong direction. On the economy. The country is going on the wrong track, the right track. You go back to January, these numbers were pretty split, right? Forty-three percent said wrong track, 36% said right track right when Donald Trump came into office.

But look at that. That wrong track number has skyrocketed up to 56% – my goodness gracious – who say that the country, at least when it comes to the economy, is on the wrong track, and that right track number, Kate Bolduan, has fallen to 29%.

So, what was a single-digit spread has ballooned up to a 27-point spread in the negative direction. The bottom line is this. Donald Trump is trying to spin a narrative, and the American people aren’t buying the spin that is coming out of the White House.

Bolduan asked, “Now in these new numbers, what is driving the pessimism?”

Enten replied that the key driver of Americans’ negative economic sentiments is inflation.

“We’ve said it over and over again, 44%, 44% say ‘inflation,'” he said, noting that “taxes/take-home pay was a distant second at just nine percent.

“It’s inflation overwhelmingly driving this economic pessimism,” Enten continued. “And I will tell you this, until the economy, until the American people think that inflation is under control, they will continue to have pessimistic feelings about the economy, because inflation is numero uno by a wide, wide margin in driving this economic pessimism.”

Trump is also faring poorly in polls conducted by MAGA-friendly outlets. Last month, a Fox News poll showed just 38% approve of the president’s handling of the economy.

Watch above via CNN.