NEW: Trump’s Popularity Surges To Near Record Highs

President Donald Trump’s popularity among the Republican base has surged to near record highs over the past week. The dramatic rise is particularly notable given backlash from some segments of the base over the administration’s messaging on the Jeffrey Epstein case.

CNN senior data analyst Harry Enten reviewed the shocking findings during Thursday’s edition of “CNN This Morning.”

“I mean look, I think this one surprised me a bit because of all these complaints online going after Trump and the Epstein files, you might think his approval ratings were going down with Republicans. If anything, they’re going up,” Enten said. In the network’s own poll, Trump’s approval among GOP respondents climbed to 88 percent, up from 86 percent in the previous survey.

Quinnipiac — which had former Vice President Kamala Harris winning every swing state with the exception of Georgia in its final 2024 presidential election poll — found even higher support for the president. Among Republican respondents, 90 percent expressed support for the president’s job performance, up from 87 percent in the prior poll.

“If anything, Donald Trump’s approval rating has gone up since this whole Epstein saga started. He is at the apex, or close there too, in terms of his popularity with Republican voters. Epstein files, complaints, or not,” Enten said, to which CNN’s Audie Cornish remarked, “You just proved that not everything online is real.”

“Is there any reason that you can find that this hasn’t taken hold and hurt him?” Cornish followed up.

“Yeah. I mean, on X, all you hear about is the Epstein files. But how about out in the real public? Republicans who said the top issue was Epstein case. The answer is one,” Enten answered.

“One, and not one percent. One respondent. This is a great little finding that Ariel Edwards-Levy, who of course is part of our polling unit, found. Just one single Republican said that the nation’s top problem is in fact the Epstein case. Not much of a surprise that therefore Donald Trump’s approval rating has not suffered with Republicans because of the Epstein case. Because the bottom line is most Americans say it’s not up high up on their priority list.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi has been under fire over her confusing “Epstein Files” release, when she distributed binders titled “Epstein Files: Phase One” to a number of pro-Trump social media personalities at the White House earlier this year. The binders did not contain much new information, however, and a “phase two” never came.

Trump has stuck by his attorney general, however, chalking the confusing release up to a miscommunication. The president has since instructed Bondi to release any and all files that can be released on the Epstein case to the public.