CNN recently sounded the alarm over concerning reports regarding union support for Vice President Kamala Harris as more of the blue-collar voting demographic is trending toward former President Donald Trump. CNN data reporter Harry Enten pointed out that Harris is on pace to have the worst Democratic performance in decades.
Over the past few months, Enten has reported on key data points surrounding the 2024 election as November approaches. In a recent CNN segment, he highlighted the monumental shift in support, where Harris has just a 9-point lead among union households. For perspective, Biden had a 19-point advantage in 2020, Hillary Clinton had a 12-point lead in 2016, and Bill Clinton maintained a 30-point lead in 1992. According to Enten, the projections indicate the worst performance for a Democratic presidential candidate among union voters since 1984.
“Sometimes there are data points that just jump off the screen, should set off sirens. Alright, this is union households. This is the Democratic margin in the presidential election. It ain‘t what it used to be,” Enten said. “Bill Clinton won that union vote by 30 points. Hillary Clinton only won it by 12 points back in 2016. That was the lowest mark for a Democrat since 1984, Mondale vs. Reagan. But look at where Kamala Harris is today. She is only leading by nine points.”
Enten provided a historical perspective on the numbers. “That would be the worst Democratic performance in a generation. Ten points off the mark of Joe Biden, who of course won four years ago, was sort of that union guy, union Joe, right?” he said about Harris polling among union households.
The data analyst further highlighted the political leanings of voters who go to a trade or vocational school. “Look at this margin, this to me, oh boy, does this tell you about the state of our politics now vs. back in the early 1990s, margin among vocational and trade school grads in pre-election polling. Bill Clinton was leading that vote over George H.W. Bush by seven points. Look at where Donald Trump is today, over Kamala Harris, a 31-point advantage,” Enten said.
Enten pointed out that Trump has campaigned particularly hard for the blue-collar vote, where the data he discussed indicates these efforts have paid off. As a result, a once core voting demographic for the Democratic Party has drifted to the right, providing Trump with notable working class support despite the rhetoric from Kamala Harris that the former president only cares about the interest of billionaires.
“When I think people think of the working class, they think of people who use their hands. And we know that Donald Trump has been going after that vote, and he is in a very, very strong position, more so perhaps than any other bloc. The folks who go to trade school, vocational school, that has moved from being a core Democratic group to now being a core group of Donald Trump‘s massive amount of support among the working class,” he said.
Watch Enten sound the alarm below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
"*" indicates required fields