CNN Analyst: Deeper Look at Polls Shows Kamala Harris Win Would Be ‘Historically Unprecedented’
One critical number could mean that Vice President Kamala Harris has little hope of winning the presidential election, according to a CNN data analyst.
Harry Enten said the biggest problem Harris faces is being part of an administration that most Americans think is not helping the country.
“If we look at whether voters believe we’re on the right track or the wrong track, I think that this sort of gets at a problem for Kamala Harris’s campaign. Just 28% of Americans think the U.S is on the right track,” he said, according to a video posted on RealClearPolitics.
According to Enten’s data, the average approval rating for incumbents who lose an election sits at around 25 percent which “looks a heck of a lot like” Harris’ 28 percent.
The president’s party has never (at least back to 1980) won another term in the White House with so few Americans saying the U.S. is on the right track (28%, today).
The average when the prez party loses (25%) is far closer to today’s number, though there is a bit of a twist. pic.twitter.com/hZtWRMW9mn
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) October 4, 2024
Enten said that the picture is different for a popular administration.
“When the White House party wins — Kamala Harris’s party, the Democrats – 42 percent on average think that the country is on the right track,” he said.
Enten noted that the current approval rating is hovering near the average of losing administrations.
“This to me is a bad sign for Kamala Harris’s campaign. The bottom line is, it looks a lot more like a loser than it does like a winner,” he said.
Enten noted that the lowest approval rating a winning president received was 39 percent in 1996, which was the year former President Bill Clinton was re-elected.
Enten delivered his bottom line: “There is no historical precedent for the White House party winning another term when just 28% of the country thinks that we’re on the right track. Simply put, it would be historically unprecedented.”