In 2018, Democrats swept 41 House seats on a blue wave that crushed Republicans.
Eight years later, CNN's data guru has a very different message.
What Harry Enten said next is the last thing the Democrat Party wanted to hear heading into November.
DNC Debt Tops 18 Million as Democrat Party Favorability Crashes 24 Points Before November
CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten stood in front of his own network's cameras and called the Democrat Party a "terrible, terrible brand."
Enten compared the party's favorability to the Titanic – sitting 24 points underwater with the election exactly 100 days away.
That number should terrify every Democrat strategist in Washington.
In 2018 – the last time Democrats captured a House majority – the party sat at plus-one on the favorability scale.
Today they're at negative 24.
Enten's verdict was unsparing: voters believe the Democrat Party is "out of the mainstream" and "too liberal."
"I dare say, my God, this is a massive, massive problem," he told his CNN audience.
Then he got to the money – and it only got worse.
The Republican National Committee entered these final 100 days with $128.5 million cash on hand and zero debt, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
The Democratic National Committee?
The DNC ended June with $16.3 million in cash and $18.5 million in debts – leaving the party $2.2 million in the red with no plans for its customary transfers to congressional campaign committees.
Enten illustrated the gap by pulling out actual dollar bills.
He held up hundreds for Republicans and singles for Democrats.
Outside group fundraising confirms the gap – Republicans have nearly doubled the Democrat haul, pulling in $657 million to the Left's $334 million.
A national party running on debt 100 days from an election doesn't just lose ad buys.
It signals to every major donor in the country that the people running the Democrat apparatus have lost control.
Democratic Socialists of America Drive Democrat Primary Losses Past the 2010 Tea Party Record
The money problems are damaging enough.
The internal revolt is killing what's Left.
Enten has been tracking a civil war inside the Democrat Party – one he describes as "a new Tea Party, but it's on steroids" – and the primary results prove it.
During the actual 2010 Tea Party wave – the one that gave Republicans a 63-seat pickup and sent Nancy Pelosi into the minority – only two Republican incumbents lost their own primaries.
In 2026, five sitting Democrat House incumbents have already been knocked out by far-left socialist challengers, with more at-risk races still ahead.
That's not a primary skirmish – it's a party being devoured from within.
Enten found one more number that should alarm every moderate Democrat still standing: only 47% of Democrats approve of their own party in Congress.
During the Tea Party's height in July 2010, 52% of Republicans approved of their own party in Congress – already a historic floor.
Democrats are below that threshold today.
Fueling the collapse is the Democratic Socialists of America – the far-left faction openly funding primary challenges against any Democrat not radical enough for their taste.
The DSA, Enten found, carries twice the unfavorability the Tea Party did at its peak in 2010.
Republicans Hold a 130 Million Cash Advantage as Democrats Burn Through Every 2026 Midterm Edge They Had
Every historical tailwind was blowing in the Democrat direction this cycle.
The party out of the White House gains House seats in midterms – history has confirmed it in all but three cycles since the Civil War.
Trump's approval is underwater.
Gas prices are back above four dollars a gallon.
Inflation hasn't let go.
Democrats should be marching into November with money in the bank and a unified base.
Instead, they're running a cash-negative national committee, watching their incumbents get eaten by socialists, and sitting 24 points underwater in party favorability.
The socialist insurgency – with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as its most visible face and the DSA as its funding machine – has pushed the party so far Left that even CNN's own numbers man can no longer hide the damage.
CNN just handed conservatives the scoreboard Democrats have spent a year trying to keep off television.
A party $2.2 million in debt, drowning in its own brand collapse, and being cannibalized by its own far-left base isn't riding a wave.
It's watching the lifeboats leave.
Sources:
- Harry Enten, CNN Midterm Analysis (broadcast), CNN, July 27, 2026.
- Staff, "Cash-Strapped DNC Shelled Out More Than $800K to Non-Voting Territories Like Virgin Islands While in Debt," Fox News Digital, July 26, 2026.
- Staff, "100-Day Sprint to the Midterms Kicks Off as Republicans and Democrats Clash for Control Across the Country," Fox News Digital, July 27, 2026.
- Matt Margolis, "Here's How the Democrats Are Blowing the Midterms," PJ Media, July 20, 2026.
- Staff, "The Left Is Eating Its Own: Why the 2026 Democratic Primary Bloodbath Is Making History," Tampa Free Press, July 2026.
- Staff, "CNN Data Whiz Predicts Socialist Tea Party on Steroids Coming for Scalps of Dem Incumbents," Bizpac Review, July 10, 2026.
- Staff, "Midterm Alarm Bells: Democrats Face Steep Favorability Deficit Despite Election Gains," Fox News Digital, April 7, 2026.