There’s a fascinating and important reason President Donald Trump’s approval rating is three points above water while he is underwater with independents: Republicans are more united behind him than Democrats are united opposing him.

CNN’s Harry Enten explained Wednesday morning that despite the fact that Trump is minus 10 points among independents, he had “broken the mold by remaking the electorate from +6 Dem in 2021 to +2 GOP now,” adding, “Moreover, the GOP base is more behind Trump (+84 pt net approval) than the Dem base is against him (-78 pts).”

“What’s going on here is, remember in term one there was all that big opposition to Donald Trump. Democrats hated him,” Enten recalled. “Well, right now, Trump’s net approval rating among Democrats is underwater. Way underwater at -78 points. But the Trump base is consolidated behind the Republican president to an extent that we really did not necessarily see in term number one. Look at this: his net approval rating is plus 84 points. So, more Republicans are behind Donald Trump than Democrats are opposed to Donald Trump, and that is lifting him up and giving him that positive net approval rating.”

“Donald Trump and the Republican Party has (sic) changed the electorate,” Enten posited. “What do I mean by that? Well, let’s take a look at party identification. Democrats versus Republicans. You go back to 2017, five points more of the electorate was Democrats than Republicans. You go to 2021 when Joe Biden was starting out, look at that, six points more of the electorate was Democrats than Republicans.”

“But look at what’s happened in February of 2025,” he continued. “Look at this. Republicans. There are more Republicans in the electorate than there are Democrats. Republican plus two. So, Donald Trump and the Republicans have remade the electorate. They’ve turned some people over from being Democrats or independents to become Republicans. New folks have entered the electorate who are more Republican-leaning. And so, when you combine that with the fact that Republicans are really, really behind Donald Trump, all of a sudden you get a winning recipe whereby you break the normal rules of politics and give Donald Trump that positive net approval rating when he had pretty much a consistently negative one in term number one.”

“As I said at the beginning, he’s copying Frank Sinatra, doing it my way,” Enten proclaimed.

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​[[{“value”:”

There’s a fascinating and important reason President Donald Trump’s approval rating is three points above water while he is underwater with independents: Republicans are more united behind him than Democrats are united opposing him.

CNN’s Harry Enten explained Wednesday morning that despite the fact that Trump is minus 10 points among independents, he had “broken the mold by remaking the electorate from +6 Dem in 2021 to +2 GOP now,” adding, “Moreover, the GOP base is more behind Trump (+84 pt net approval) than the Dem base is against him (-78 pts).”

“What’s going on here is, remember in term one there was all that big opposition to Donald Trump. Democrats hated him,” Enten recalled. “Well, right now, Trump’s net approval rating among Democrats is underwater. Way underwater at -78 points. But the Trump base is consolidated behind the Republican president to an extent that we really did not necessarily see in term number one. Look at this: his net approval rating is plus 84 points. So, more Republicans are behind Donald Trump than Democrats are opposed to Donald Trump, and that is lifting him up and giving him that positive net approval rating.”

“Donald Trump and the Republican Party has (sic) changed the electorate,” Enten posited. “What do I mean by that? Well, let’s take a look at party identification. Democrats versus Republicans. You go back to 2017, five points more of the electorate was Democrats than Republicans. You go to 2021 when Joe Biden was starting out, look at that, six points more of the electorate was Democrats than Republicans.”

“But look at what’s happened in February of 2025,” he continued. “Look at this. Republicans. There are more Republicans in the electorate than there are Democrats. Republican plus two. So, Donald Trump and the Republicans have remade the electorate. They’ve turned some people over from being Democrats or independents to become Republicans. New folks have entered the electorate who are more Republican-leaning. And so, when you combine that with the fact that Republicans are really, really behind Donald Trump, all of a sudden you get a winning recipe whereby you break the normal rules of politics and give Donald Trump that positive net approval rating when he had pretty much a consistently negative one in term number one.”

“As I said at the beginning, he’s copying Frank Sinatra, doing it my way,” Enten proclaimed.

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