CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten on Monday emphasized just how weak President Donald Trump’s net approval rating is going into his State of the Union address this week. (Check out Enten’s analysis in the clip below.)
“My goodness gracious, the snow is up to the knees here in New York City. And Trump seems to be well underneath it at this point,” said Enten, likening the president’s low polling numbers to the snowstorm that smacked the Northeast.
Enten, citing a CNN/SSRS poll published Monday, highlighted how Trump has a net approval rating (percent who approve minus those who disapprove) of -27 points heading into his address to Congress.
The figure marks a double-digit drop from his net approval ratings in the same poll ahead of his SOTU addresses in 2018 (-15), 2019 (-15) and 2020 (-10).
“Donald Trump has never been weaker going into a State of the Union address, according to our CNN polling, than he is right now, and weaker by a considerable amount,” Enten stressed.
He added that Trump, aside from “breaking records” that he set back in his first term, has a “considerably lower” net approval rating compared to those of his predecessors this century.
George W. Bush and Barack Obama held net approval ratings of -11 and -15, respectively, at this point in their second terms, per CNN’s polling.
Enten, when asked to remark on what’s driving Trump’s polling drop, noted that the president is the “weakest” he’s ever been with independents.
Between Feb. 2025 and this month, Trump’s net approval rating with the group sank from -13 to -47, his lowest such figure in either of his two terms.
“When you’re 47 points underwater with independents, that’s the name of the game, you can’t be above water overall,” Enten continued.
“And that’s why Donald Trump is near record lows overall and the lowest he’s ever been going into a State of the Union address.”
