CNN data guru says 'weird offensive line' against JD Vance is 'absolutely' hurting his favorite

CNN's chief data reporter Harry Enten said Friday that Democrats and the media attacking Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as “weird” is definitely hurting his popularity.

Corporate news networks and Democrats have repeatedly used the term to paint former President Donald Trump and Vance as “weird,” with CNN and MSNBC using the term more than 160 times each Monday alone, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported. Enten on “CNN News Central” said the “attack” appears to be “working,” as Google searches for “weird,” related to Vance, have been increasing, and his favorability is uniquely poor among the candidates to the vice presidency.

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CNN Data Guru Says “Strange Offensive Line” Against JD Vance Is “Absolutely” Hurting His Favor. pic.twitter.com/JA3W9Nnt8J

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 2, 2024

“So that's weird Google searches. That's compared to the last three months. Look at that, it's up 22%, my God, in the last week,” Enten told host Kate Bolduan. “What do you think in the last three days, searches for strangers are up 32%. And of course they're being searched for 'strange' all the time… When you see these kinds of giant jumps, you go to yourself .'Wait a minute, something is driving this. People are interested in the word “weird” and the question, of course, is why are they interested in the word weird?”

“Topics increasingly searched for with 'strange' on Google, these are the things that are increasingly linked to searches with 'strange',” he added. “Look at this, Tim Walz, who you mentioned, who started this slogan. How about Make America Great Again, how about the GOP? How about JD Vance? So the fact is, you're seeing these increases in searches for the word “weird” and then the topics that are increasingly searched for the word “weird” are all political, all of them attack lines… This shows that it is penetrating the zeitgeist and actually shows that it is an attack rare politician people are looking for online.”

From Trump chosen Vance as running mate on July 15 during the first day of the Republican National Convention, interviews and speeches he gave before winning his Senate campaign resurfacedincluding his criticism of prominent Democrats who did not have children, such as Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Vance teased Democratic women for describing as a “bunch of childless catwomen” in a 2021 interview on former Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson's show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

“Look, he was already the least liked vice presidential candidate coming out of a convention, you see AP-NORC earlier this month, mid-July, minus five points, the ABC News-Ipsos poll, minus six points. But look this week … we can show very recent polling data, look at JD Vance's net favorable rating in AP-NORC is down eight points to -13 points,” Enten said. “What do you think ABC News Ipsos drops to -15 points? So it looks like the lines of attack against JD Vance are working. And one of those big lines of attack, of course, is the idea that he's weird. And it's certainly getting more and more searches under his name and obviously other things associated with the Republicans.”

“If you look at people like Sarah Palin, you look at people like Dan Quayle, people who went on to kind of VP infamy, they all had a net favorability rating of 10+ or ​​better,” Enten added. “The fact that he doesn't like it so much, so soon, to me suggests that there's something unique about JD Vance. And it's not just the weirdness, but I think the weird offensive line is having an absolute impact. The people just have a visceral dislike for him, as we see in these numbers right here.”

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