For decades, the Democratic Party positioned itself as the champion of the middle class.
However, under President Donald Trump’s leadership, Republicans have significantly narrowed that gap and may soon overtake Democrats as the dominant party among working-class voters. Since Trump’s decisive victory in the November 2024 election, sweeping all seven swing states, Democrats have faced mounting political setbacks.
Currently, Republicans hold a 10-point advantage over Democrats on handling the economy, just four months into President Trump’s return to office. CNN analyst Harry Enten expressed surprise at the strong polling numbers favoring the GOP, especially given ongoing public concerns about a potential recession and the volatility in the stock market.
Enten elaborated on his surprise, noting that he had anticipated Democrats would hold a significant advantage on economic issues, particularly given what he described as the “tumultuous” beginning of Trump’s second term.
“It ain’t so, it ain’t so. The party that is closest to your economic views: in November of 2023, it was Republicans by 11 points. Now it’s still within that range, still within that margin of error, plus an eight-point advantage for the Republican Party,” Enten remarked Monday. “How is that possible, Democrats? How is that possible?”
“After the stock market’s been doing all of this, after all the tariffs that are Americans are against, and Republicans still hold an eight-point lead on the economy? Are you kidding me?” he continued during the segment. Enten then highlighted that multiple polls reflected the same trend, including a survey conducted by Reuters/Ipsos that showed similar results.
“Well, in May of 2024, just before Donald Trump was reelected 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,” he explained, pointing to the Reuters/Ipsos polling.
“And again, this is after months of supposed economic uncertainty, in which the stock market’s been going bonkers and 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,” he said.
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The Republican Party, under Trump, has essentially become “the working person’s party,” after the Democrats have spent a decade or more losing their minds over gender issues, open borders, abortion on demand, and ‘America last.’ pic.twitter.com/FtSE6Jnk6J
— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) June 2, 2025
“The Republican Party, under Trump, has essentially become ‘the working person’s party,’ after the Democrats have spent a decade or more losing their minds over gender issues, open borders, abortion on demand, and ‘America last,'” said the USA Features Media account, via X.
Enten then emphasized that Democrats are in danger of losing a key segment of their traditional base. When voters were asked which party best represents the middle class, the results showed a tie—erasing what was once a significant advantage for Democrats in that area.
“I have polling from NBC going all the way back since 1989, when Democrats had a 22-point advantage, 2016, a 17-point advantage. But by this decade, we’ve already started seeing declines. Back in 2022, we 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,” Enten further elaborated.
The analyst finished the shocking segment by saying, “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.”
