Longtime Republican pollster Frank Luntz accused CNN‘s Harry Enten of being overly theatrical in an awkward on-air moment.
Enten, CNN’s chief data analyst, presented polling on Laura Coates Live about how President Donald Trump‘s net favorability rating has plummeted with specific voter groups since his re-election, including a massive 35-point drop for under-30s.
“Look at where he is now—holy Toledo!” Enten said, reacting to the drop. Luntz did not appreciate Enten’s style.
“Among the groups that gained most amongst in 2024, he’s seen the biggest declines in 2025,” Enten said at the end of the segment. “And that is no bueno, no matter how you put it.”
Luntz, it seems, took exception to how Enten had put it.
Asked by host Laura Coates for his reaction to the polling Enten had presented, Luntz began by taking a moment to cite his experience and attack the younger pollster’s trademark flourishes.
“I first want to say to Harry, come on, you’re not on Broadway,” Luntz said. “Look, I used to do exactly what you just did, maybe ten years ago, but this stuff is very serious now.”
“So, ‘Oh, my God!’ is not helpful as a pollster in providing information,” Luntz continued, yelling and throwing both his hands up in mock hysteria. “It may get people to pay attention for a minute or two, but it doesn’t communicate what needs to be said.”
Despite criticizing Enten’s delivery, Luntz then immediately conceded that “Harry’s correct” about how “that group, that center group, has begun to abandon the president.”
He added that those voter groups are nevertheless currently “willing to tough it out” and continue to support Trump. “In fact, I’m being criticized by some of those people for being too dramatic in that some of them are leaving, because the vast, vast majority are staying with the president at this moment.”
Coates responded by addressing Luntz’s shot at her colleague.
“Well, first, I love Broadway, and I love Harry Enten,” she said. “And I think that it helps people to be more included in the conversation.”
“To the point you’ve raised about the dramatic nature of how serious the events are, and how people are viewing this—I mean, our CNN poll asked how Trump’s tariffs will affect people’s finances,” Coates went on. “Certainly very close to home for so many people: 86 percent of Democrats, 64 percent of Independents say that it will hurt their finances, but just 28 percent of Republicans say that tariffs will hurt them.”
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