CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten on Tuesday responded to President Donald Trump botching his name as he pushed wild claims that he has “the best poll numbers [he’s] ever had” during a live TV hit earlier in the day.
Trump — in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” host Joe Kernen — urged viewers to watch “Harry Emden” on CNN, declaring that the data analyst “went crazy over how well” he was doing.
The president claimed his approval rating was at 71% and, among Republicans, bragged that the figure is around 94 to 95%.
It’s unclear where Trump was getting such figures, which seemingly don’t mirror reality and were swiftly fact-checked by Kernen on CNBC.
Enten quickly dismissed the president’s remarks on his numbers.
“You know, I give him a fair shake. I don’t give him a positive spin,” Enten told CNN’s John Berman.
Enten declared that Trump isn’t at the “highest point” he’s ever been in the polling world, adding that the president is currently “underwater” with a net approval rating (percent approval minus percent disapproval) of -9 points.
At the beginning of his second term, that figure was 6 points “above water,” Enten noted.
“If we are comparing him to other presidents at this point in their presidencies, he is the second lowest on record compared only to himself, who does worse. If we’re comparing him to other second terms, he’s certainly in the bottom of the list,” said Enten, adding that Richard Nixon was in a “worse” position.
“But when you’re comparing yourself to Richard Nixon and you’re saying that you’re doing better than Richard Nixon in your second term, that’s not exactly a good position to be in.”