‘Not Hurting Him at All!’ Harry Enten Delivers Terrible, Horrible, No-Good Shutdown News for Democrats

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten delivered the bad news to Democrats that, as the government shutdown stretches into a further week, fresh polling suggests President Donald Trump is weathering the political fallout better than last time.

Citing new figures from a AP-NORC poll, Enten told host John Berman that “shutdowns are different the second time around when it comes to Donald Trump.”

While the 2018–19 shutdown rapidly eroded Trump’s popularity, Enten noted that this time, his standing has held firm — even improving slightly.

“In 2018/2019, Donald Trump’s approval rating was already falling, the shutdown was eating into his popular support,” Enten said. “It was down three points already at this particular point and would fall considerably more.”

By contrast, he added: “This shutdown hasn’t eaten into Donald Trump’s support at all – his net approval rating is actually up a point.”

The key difference, Enten explained, lies in who the public blames.

During Trump’s last shutdown, 61 percent of Americans said they blamed him “a great deal.” This time round, that number has dropped to 48 percent — a 13-point decline that may explain why Trump appears unfazed by the political standoff.

“It’s a different world,” Enten said, pointing to the shifting blame dynamics. “It’s no real wonder that Donald Trump at this point, looking at the shutdown, says: ‘You know what, it’s not actually harming me politically, in large part because he’s getting less of the blame.’”

The findings hint at a transformed political landscape, one in which Trump’s base remains unshaken and the broader electorate is more divided on who bears responsibility for the shutdown.

Watch above via CNN.