Speaking during a post-election analysis on CNN with host and CNN anchor Kate Bolduan, CNN data guru and frequent show personality Harry Enten was, despite his pre-election comments about the possibility of a Trump victory, left stunned by the huge magnitude of Trump’s triumph.
Namely, Enten, who was speaking before it was announced that the GOP had retained control of the House but after it had won the Senate and Presidency, noted that this was a Earth-shakingly large victory for Trump and showed a gain of the sort not seen in America in over three decades.
Bolduan prompted Enten’s comments, saying, “Talk to me about how his support in this election compares to the past.” Enten, responding, first said, “You know, I think the breadth of the improvement that Donald Trump had — Holy Toledo! All right. Trump gained ground in 49 states and the District of Columbia compared to 2020.”
Continuing, he noted that this was the first time in decades that any change in voting patterns has occurred in such a magnitude, saying, “I went back to the record books. When was the last time a party gained in so many different places? You have to go all the way back to 1992, when Bill Clinton improved upon Michael Dukakis’s performance in 49 states, plus the District of Columbia.”
Building on that, he further noted that in pretty much every state, Trump did better than in 2020, showing that America really moved over to Trump. He told Bolduan, “The bottom line is, no matter where you look on the map, Kate Bolduan, no matter where you looked, Donald Trump was improving where he did four years ago except for Washington state.”
Enten also noted that Trump’s victory was large enough that, in momentous news for the party, he had won the popular vote, something that hasn’t occurred since the Bush Era. He said, “It is no wonder that at this particular point, he looks like he’s going to be the first Republican to win the popular vote since George W. Bush back in 2004.”
Bolduan, similarly shocked, asked Enten how much ground Trump gained with groups that generally don’t vote Republican, as it appeared to be a lot. She asked, “And to pull that off, he gained ground where with groups that Republicans do not generally count as part of their winning coalition or really at all. How much ground did he gain?”
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Enten repeated the same phrase of shock, saying, “Again — Holy Toledo! It’s just like, oh, my goodness gracious! These are the types of groups that you would never have thought that Donald Trump would have gained so much support among eight years ago when he first won against Hillary Clinton.”
Enten further noted, “Trump scores the best GOP showing among 18- to 29-year-olds in 20 years. You have to go all the way back to 2004. How about among Black voters? It was the best performance for Republican candidate for president in 48 years since Gerald Ford back in 1976. And among Hispanic voters, the exit polls only go back since 1972, but Donald Trump’s performance on Tuesday was the best for a Republican presidential candidate in exit poll history.”