CNN’s senior data analyst Harry Enten was in shock this week after reviewing recent polling on which political party Americans trust more on the economy.
Spoilers: it’s not Democrats.
“You’d expect that Democrats would have this massive lead on the economy — it ain’t so! It ain’t so!” Enten said as he unveiled new CNN polling showing the GOP still holds a massive advantage over Dems.
Republicans held an eight-point lead over Democrats when voters were asked which party better reflected their economic views, according to a May survey released Sunday.
CNN analyst Harry Enten noted the results were “still within the margin of error” of a November 2023 poll, which showed Republicans with an even wider, 11-point edge. The takeaway? The economic confidence gap isn’t shrinking—it’s settling in.
“How is that possible, Democrats!?” the CNN analyst said.
“How is it possible after all the recession fears? After the stock market’s been doing all of this, after all the tariffs that Americans are against, and Republicans still hold an eight-point lead on the economy? Are you kidding me!?” Enten continued.
“Party with a better economic plan? Well, in May of 2024, just before Donald Trump was re-elected president, Republicans had a nine-point advantage. Look at where we are now in May 2025 — the advantage actually went up by three points,” Enten explained. “Now, Republicans have a 12-point advantage when it comes to the party with a better economic plan.
“Again, this is after months of supposed economic uncertainty in which the stock market’s been going bonkers, in which tariff wars that Americans are against have been going on. And yet, despite all of that, the Democrats are down by 12 points on the economy.”
Watch the clip above.