CNN’s top data analyst questioned on Sunday whether Republicans defending President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs understood their historical nature—in creating some of Trump’s worst approval ratings ever.
Data analyst Harry Enten told CNN Newsroom host Jessica Dean that the GOP talking point that insisted the double-digit stock market decline was normal didn’t hold up.
“If this is pretty normal stuff, I’d like to know what not normal stuff is,” he quipped. “If this is a boom, I’d like to know what a bust is.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Enten said the cataclysmic fall also earned Trump a new historical marker—the worst net approval rating on the economy for a presidency at this point in their term, at negative 12 points.
In comparison, Enten said, it took former President Jimmy Carter 11 months to get a negative net approval rating after the economy entered a recession under his term. “He’s way underwater,” Enten said. “He is swimming with the fishes.”
“I just never thought I would see the day‚” he added. “Trump promised an economic boom. Voters bought into it, but so far, they ain’t liking what they seein’.”
The stock market saw historic declines in the last week after Trump announced massive reciprocal tariffs on most of the world, with a baseline 10 percent levy on many nations. It was the market’s worst week since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020—which Trump also oversaw.
Trump has vowed to maintain the levies, threatening China on Monday with additional tariffs should it proceed with its own retaliatory ones. He has said, however, that he is open to meeting with nations to negotiate.
Enten also said Trump was the only president to see a 15 percent drop in the S&P 500 when they inherited a bull market, or one that increases by more than 20 percent over a two-month period.
“This is truly unique,” Enten said.
