CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten reports on new polling data showing Republicans winning on the economy and how the party closed the gap with Democrats among middle-class voters. Enten said voters believe Republicans have a better economic plan by a 12-point margin.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Americans are sending a message and news CNN polling showing that neither Republicans nor Democrats have a clear — are winning a clear majority of Americans right now when it comes to the economy. So, what to do about that? And what is inside these numbers and what can be learned from it? CNN’s Harry Enten is looking into that. When it comes to what the message really is, I mean, which parties are faring any better? HARRY ENGEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, you would think after all of the waves, Kate Bolduan, after the last few months, the first five months of the Donald Trump presidency, right, the first four months of the Donald Trump presidency, that you’d expect that Democrats would have this massive lead on the economy. It ain’t so. It ain’t so. The party that is closest to your economic views. In November of 2023, it was the Republicans by 11 points. Now it’s still within that range, still within that margin of error, plus eight point advantage for the Republican Party. How is that possible, Democrats? How is that possible after all the recession fears, after the stock markets 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? BOLDUAN: This is a CNN — this is new CNN polling. ENTEN: Yes. BOLDUAN: How is that — when we look for trends, how is that trending with other data that you’re pulling in? ENTEN: Yes, if it was just this one CNN poll, that would be one thing. But take a look at Reuters/IPSOS. What do we see here? 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 of 2025. The advantage actually went up by three points. Now Republicans have a 12-point advantage when it comes to the party with a better economic plan. And again, this is after months of economic — supposed economic uncertainty in which the stock market’s been going bonkers, in which the 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. This speaks to Democratic problems on the economy better than basically anything that you could possibly look at. The Republicans still hold an advantage on the all-important key issue of the day. And that is the reason why, even if Donald Trump’s approval ratings are a little bit lower than they used to be, Republicans are not out of the ballgame because they still have a clear advantage on the economy, whether you look at CNN’s polls or whether you look at the IPSOS poll right here in which they have a 12- point advantage on the economy, Kate. BOLDUAN: And also in the CNN data it does show that Republicans are gaining ground in an area that is key relating to all of this, which is when it comes to the middle class. ENTEN: Yes. You know, historically speaking, which is the party of the middle class has been a huge advantage for Democrats. I have polling from NBC going all the way back since 1989, when Democrats held a 23- point advantage. 2016, a 17-point advantage. But by this decade, we already started seeing declines back in 2022 where you saw that Democrats led, but only by four points, well within the margin of error. And now in our latest CNN poll, among registered voters, which is the party of the middle class, it is tied. This, I think, speaks to Democratic ills more than anything else. They have traditionally been the party of the middle class. No more. Donald Trump and the Republican Party have taken that mantle away. And now a key advantage for Democrats historically has gone. Adios amigos. And now there is no party that is the party of the middle class. Republicans have completely closed the gap, Kate. BOLDUAN: All right, there’s a lot of messages and a lot to be learned from these numbers and this data. It’s good to see you, Harry. Thank you so much. ENTEN: Nice to see you, Kate.

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