CNN: Democrats Are No Longer the Party of the People

CNN data analyst Harry Enten had a segment this morning which hammered home a message Democrats have been struggling with for months. They have completely lost their historic advantage on the question of which party cares most about average Americans. 

During “CNN News Central,” Enten pulled up new aggregate poll numbers showing that Americans currently believe that Republicans care about U.S. citizens as much as Democratic Party figures do, a poll that has historically favored the Democrats.

“This, to me, is one of the most shocking pieces of poll data that I truly, truthfully have seen this year, or maybe in any prior year,” he said, noting elsewhere how unexpected these numbers are after Trump unveiled his controversial tariffs earlier this month.

Enten displayed poll numbers showing that in the three previous decades, the Democratic Party smashed the GOP in the category of which party is believed to care more about Americans. In 1994, the party had a +19 majority over the GOP; in 2005, a+23; and in 2017, a +13.

But now the parties are tied. “All of a sudden, the Democrats, who were the party of the people. No more! No more!” Enten said. He then drilled down on why this was happening by breaking out the numbers of those with and without college degrees and how they responded to this question of who cares about regular people. In the past, Dems had an edge with both groups, but now they hold a solid lead with college educated voters but Republicans hold a lead among non-college educated voters. In short, blue collar workers have become a GOP constituency and that hasn’t changed despite some of the upheaval of the past two weeks.

It’s probably way too early to draw conclusions about what this means for the midterm elections in 2026 but Enten did say that as of now, Democrats shouldn’t be counting their chickens. “If Democrats think they automatically have a ticket back to control of the House, I‘d say hold on a second,” he said. Here’s the clip:

A shocker for me given the tariff war: The GOP seems to be in their best position ever for the party who cares more for the needs of people like yourself.

A tie on a metric that Dems have historically led by double digits.

The reason? Huge GOP gains among the working class. pic.twitter.com/BItuHBd2rM

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) April 11, 2025

The ciip is getting some attention on X. Here’s Scott Jenning’s reaction:

virtually all punditry you hear on this is wrong lol https://t.co/1FZaAbTPlv

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) April 11, 2025

But reactions are all over the map, from Democrats who think this proves Republicans are stupid to Republicans who see it as proof the Dems are completely adrift as a party. 

Right or wrong, most voters do believe that Trump is trying to help the working class with tariffs. Hence, the opinion that the GOP cares more about their needs. https://t.co/FFb2mJXbsT

— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) April 11, 2025

Backup for Trump on escalation with China https://t.co/wqg8NIoGKC

— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) April 11, 2025

It really is a golden age for Republicans if we stay focused on costs (especially gas, electricity, and groceries), taxes, securing the border, and common sense reforms like rooting out ‘woke ideology’ and making government more efficient. https://t.co/pbjOnnfROx

— Corey Uhden (@CACoreyU) April 11, 2025

Because for many working class folks, cultural issues matter as much or more than economic ones. https://t.co/Mo8Q2Cbmub

— Matt Marcotte (@MattMarcotte) April 11, 2025

If he’s saying it’s Tied – republicans have a very nice lead – Dems are just terrible and getting worse https://t.co/fhz3Sb7yU7

— Mike Lee (@MikeLeeStrategy) April 11, 2025

The Dems are lost in the wilderness… and we have to make sure they stay there. 🔥 https://t.co/K7tYvkZ1IT

— Adrian 🏔️ 🏖️ (@YoAdrian1968) April 11, 2025

The Dems and their media water carriers lying about everything is working out great for them. And by “them” I mean Trump and the Republicans. https://t.co/ce5temPmwU

— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) April 11, 2025

I wonder who’s responsible for this objectively vast mismatch between reality and public perception. https://t.co/719OX26e9j

— Magdi Jacobs (@magi_jay) April 11, 2025

There are a lot more reactions like that last one saying that the “GOP echo chamber” is responsible for these results. Others suggests it’s the fault of Democrats for not having a better message to counter the GOP. I think that’s a bit of wishful thinking on their part. Dems are trying to drive the media and are succeeding like they always do because the media is made up of fellow Dems. The problem is that a lot of people have tuned them out because, as some people mentioned above, they’ve been caught lying too many times to count.

When the same people who told you “Joe Biden is sharp as a tack” tell you that Trump’s tariff policy is a total disaster, you take that with a very large grain of salt. It’s what the Dems want to be true but that doesn’t mean it is true.

That said, I do think it’s pretty early for either party do declare victory. Trump’s tariff policy will have impacts on the economy that will probably be bad for consumers in the short run. That’s the pitch he’s been making, i.e. short term pain, long term gain. But the short term pain isn’t here yet. Inflation is down again this week. The price of oil is down and gas is lower than it was a year ago. But at some point, the tariffs, even if they are just on China, will cause prices for some things to go up. 

Will average people still be willing to put up with the short term pain once it gets here? Some will but I think it’s unlikely that everyone will. In other words, the polls will change and some percentage of people will decide they don’t care about the long term gains anymore. 

The current numbers are good news that suggests many people are on board with what Trump is trying to do even as the entire media says in one voice that he’s a fool. But we’ll need to check back in next month and the month after that to see where this goes.