New polls show President Donald Trump’s approval among Republicans has risen—not fallen—despite nonstop social media backlash over the Epstein case.
CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten admitted this week he was surprised to find that Trump’s standing with Republican voters has strengthened despite widespread complaints on social media about the Epstein files.
“You might think his approval ratings were going down with Republicans—if anything, they’re going up,” Enten said, referencing recent polling from CNN and Quinnipiac. According to CNN’s numbers, Republican approval of Trump rose from 86% in the previous poll to 88% this week. Quinnipiac’s poll showed a similar jump, from 87% to 90%.
“He is at the apex, or close thereto, in terms of his popularity with Republican voters,” Enten added.
Enten also highlighted how little the Epstein issue appears to matter to Republican voters. “On X, all you hear about is the Epstein files,” he said, “but how about out in the real public?” In CNN’s polling, only one Republican named the Epstein case as the nation’s most important problem. “Not 1%—one respondent,” Enten emphasized, crediting polling colleague Ariel Edwards-Levy with flagging the data point.
“Not much of a surprise that therefore Donald Trump’s approval rating has not suffered with Republicans,” Enten concluded. “Because the bottom line is most Americans say it’s not high up on their priority list.”
This comes after Trump blasted what he called the “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax” in a recent Truth Social post, accusing the “Radical Left Democrats” of launching yet another smear campaign to distract from his “incredible and unprecedented success.” Comparing the renewed focus on Epstein to past media-driven “scams and hoaxes,” Trump rejected former allies who have embraced the narrative and declared, “I don’t want their support anymore.”
