Polling expert says Ken Paxton is the ‘worst of the worst’ as Trump heads to campaign in Texas
CNN data chief Harry Enten said GOP Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton has the "worst" polling numbers of the century.
President Donald Trump is headed to Texas on Thursday to campaign for Paxton—the controversial Republican locked in a neck-and-neck battle with Democrat James Talarico for the U.S. Senate seat. Texas is typically a reliably Republican state, but Enten explained on Thursday why polling numbers show Paxton in deep trouble.
He said Texans think Paxton "especially stinks."
"He's the worst of the worst. I mean, just look at this key GOP Senate nominees, net popularity. Look who's at the bottom of this list. It's Ken Paxton. He's at-16 points. The worst of the worst," he said , according to a video clip shared by journalist Aaron Rupar on X.
He also highlighted how Paxton's net approval rating is the lowest among other Senate GOP candidates running in close races in Ohio, Michigan, Maine and Iowa.
"None of these other key Republican Senate nominees are positive, but yet Ken Paxton beats them all in the negative direction, -16 points, worse than in Ohio, -11, -8 in Michigan, -8 in Maine, -2 in Iowa. Ken Paxton is by far the least popular Republican Senate nominee in a key state," Enten said.
"When you look at all the polling, Texans, simply put: they hate him," he added.
He said that Paxton broke a record as the least popular Texas GOP Senate nominee of the century.
"Congratulations to Ken Paxton. You have done it. You are the least popular Texas GOP Senate nominee this century. You've managed to do it. When I was looking at the data, no one else was even in the negative, and you're at minus 16 points at this point," Enten said.
"This is record breaking for Texas. Texas is normally a Republican state. Almost always, the Republican Senate nominee is in positive territory. But Ken Paxton just isn't in negative territory. He is deep in negative territory, deep under the Gulf of Mexico, or again, in Trump's language, the Gulf of America," he added.
Trump endorsed Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP primary race despite the state official's mounting controversies . Even GOP leaders warned Paxton's nomination could lead to a tighter race with Talarico in the deep-red state of Texas.
The last Texas Democrat to be elected to the U.S. Senate was the late Lloyd Bentsen, who was first elected in 1970 and served until 1993. Since then, Texas has been a reliably deep-red state with just a handful of narrow Senate races .
The non-partisan Cook Political Report shifted its forecast for the Texas Senate race from a "lean Republican" to a "Toss up" in August. Now, Trump is campaigning for Paxton in the state on Thursday.
When asked by reporters why he was spending time campaigning in reliably red states, Trump said on Thursday that he just wants to "make sure" Republicans win.
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