President Donald Trump holds all 25 of the worst net approval ratings on inflation ever recorded, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten told viewers.
Enten, 38, was asked on “Laura Coates Live” to check the 80-year-old president’s claim that he has brought inflation down, with the midterms just over two weeks away. “With 16 days to go, Trump keeps suggesting inflation is under control and what we’re entering is the golden age,” host Laura Coates said. The September Consumer Price Index report showed inflation climbing to 3.7 percent, up from 3.4 percent in August, a rise driven largely by soaring gas prices.
Enten then named what he said will decide this election.
“In this one, it is cost, cost, cost. It is inflation. And inflation is what is so debilitating to this President of the United States, Donald John Trump, and could be debilitating to Republicans’ hopes this midterm election,” he said.
From a 7-Point Edge on Inflation
Trump rode voters’ anger over prices to victory in 2024. In the weeks before that election, Americans trusted him over his opponent, Kamala Harris, on inflation by 7 points, Enten said. His net approval on the issue now sits 52 points underwater, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll — a 59-point swing. “That is deeper than the East River, Hudson River, Harlem River all combined,” Enten said.
Every one of those record-worst ratings has come since Trump launched his war on Iran in February, Enten said. Year-on-year inflation stood at 3 percent when his second term began and had cooled to 2.4 percent by February before climbing back to 3.7 percent in September, he said, citing USA Facts. Paychecks are no longer keeping pace: wage growth has slipped from 3.7 percent at the start of the term to 3.6 percent, trailing prices.
The Most Days Above $4 a Gallon
Trump has overseen the most days ever in a calendar year with gas prices averaging above $4 a gallon, Enten said, citing AAA and GasBuddy figures. The previous record belonged to former President Joe Biden, set in 2022. The Iran war has sent gas and diesel prices soaring.
Trump’s net approval rating has fallen from minus 12 to minus 22 percentage points since the war began — the worst such drop for any president heading into midterm elections, Enten said. Among independents, he has gone from minus 32 before the war to minus 45. Democrats’ edge on the generic House ballot has widened from 5 points to 9, though redistricting means they need to win the national vote by about 4 points to retake the chamber.
Democrats Lead in Iowa, Texas and Michigan
Democratic Senate candidates led in Iowa, Texas, Michigan and Ohio and were at least tied in Kansas, Enten told Sara Sidner, host of “News Central,” on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. On those numbers, he said, Democrats would take control of the Senate.
Then came the caveat. Enten’s Aggregate carries an average error rate of 3.7 percentage points and draws only on the past 21 days of polling, and most of those races sit well within it. He said the Senate is too close to call and that Republicans could hold the House with ease. Trump, for his part, has shifted the focus of the midterms onto himself despite his approval ratings.
Trump’s Rallies in Ohio, Alaska and Montana
Trump has insisted inflation is coming down, including at rallies in Ohio, Alaska and Montana. CNN has repeatedly fact-checked his figures on the campaign trail. He barred the network from the White House for five days, along with MS NOW and POLITICO, until a federal judge temporarily blocked the move. He has also reposted an older Enten segment touting his popularity among Republicans, drawn from a CNN/SSRS survey from May.
White House spokesman Matthew Middleton said Trump’s aggressive, pro-growth economic agenda has blunted what he called Biden’s historic 40-year-high inflation crisis, driven economic growth, increased wages and created private-sector jobs in areas that had been hollowed out and shipped overseas. He pointed to what he described as the largest working-class tax cuts in history, lower prescription drug costs, more than one million private-sector jobs and nearly 20 trade deals. The president, Middleton said, has always been clear that the Iran conflict would bring temporary disruptions.