For weeks, Democrats and their media allies have been flogging the Epstein-Trump narrative like it was the silver bullet that could finally dent President Trump’s popularity. But according to CNN’s own numbers guru, Harry Enten, the story has already imploded — and voters couldn’t care less.
On CNN’s News Central Monday, anchor Kate Bolduan noted that “new numbers this morning showing something of a shift in how Americans are feeling about this.”
Enten didn’t hold back.
“Yes, I would say that this is, from at least a political point of view, quickly turning into a dud of a story,” he said.
Bolduan was surprised, calling it “wild” that such a hyped storyline had collapsed so quickly.
Enten pointed to the cold, hard data.
“Google searches for Epstein down 89% versus just three weeks ago. Falling through the floor. It is no longer the top term searched alongside Donald Trump’s name. That’s been trading off between tariffs and Vladimir Putin, with, obviously, the meeting coming up later this week.”
“At this particular point,” Enten added, “the American people’s interest in this story, it’s quickly becoming something of a nothingburger.”
In other words, the breathless coverage, the Capitol Hill grandstanding, and the left’s fever dreams of a political hit job have fizzled into nothing.
Bolduan asked the obvious follow-up: Had it hurt Trump’s numbers at all? Enten’s answer was devastating for Democrats: “No, not really.”
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“Trump’s approval rating, in July of 2025, it was 45%. It’s still well within that margin of error here at 44%. And you compare that to where he was in his first term at this point, he was at 37%. So, he’s seven points higher… significantly higher in terms of his overall approval rating than he was at this point in his first term.”
Even more troubling for the left, Enten noted that “among Republicans, his approval rating is near a record high, hovering right at about that 90% mark. So, no, he hasn’t lost any of that base… and his overall approval rating, 44%, is pretty gosh darn good for him.”
As for why the story went nowhere? Enten said the polling explains it. He displayed a graphic showing how many surveyed people agreed with the statement, “Nation’s Top Issue Is the Epstein Case." Pointing to the data, he noted, "This is the number of respondents… zero [Democratic] respondents said that the Epstein case was the top issue. How about among independents? Zero independents. And among Republicans, and therefore overall, just a single one.”
“Even amongst those who had high interest in this story,” Enten said, “it wasn’t something that they thought was all that important… the interest in this story has fallen off the table.”
For years, Democrats have tried to twist the Epstein saga into a Trump scandal, clinging to the hope that it could finally damage him. In recent weeks, they convinced themselves they’d found a powerful political weapon. But the truth is, there was never any substance; Trump’s hands were clean. They knew it. The public knew it. And now, the country has moved on.
But Enten credited Trump for knowing better than to take the bait. “Donald Trump has some of the best political instincts of any politician I’ve seen on this particular issue… he has been saying, ‘You know what, this is not an issue.’ And it turns out that a lot of the American public actually seem to agree with him.”
So after all the hype, the left is left with egg on its face — a political nothingburger, served ice-cold, courtesy of CNN’s own data desk.
The left’s desperate Epstein-Trump hit job is a total bust, exposed by CNN’s own numbers! While the mainstream media screams politically motivated nonsense, PJ Media cuts through the noise to bring you the truth they won’t broadcast. Join PJ Media VIP today with promo code FIGHT for 60% off and get exclusive content, ad-free browsing, and commenting privileges. Don’t wait, join today and stand with fearless conservative journalism.