WATCH: Even CNN Has To Admit that Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are Despised by Their Own Party

CNN was forced to put brutal numbers for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries-led congressional leadership on the screen Wednesday, as the network’s chief data analyst declared that Democratic voters “despise their own leaders.” The new polling showed congressional Democratic leaders with a net approval rating of minus 12 points among members of their own party. That marks a 31-point collapse from where Democratic leaders stood before the 2018 midterm elections. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s individual numbers were even worse.

The exchange aired September 23rd on “CNN News Central,” where anchor John Berman introduced what he called “equal opportunity bad numbers” from the network’s latest poll. President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans also received poor marks in that survey, but Berman turned the segment over to Harry Enten to examine the Democratic Party’s problems with its own leadership. Jeffries currently leads House Democrats, while Schumer remains the top Democrat in the Senate.

“What are we talking about here? Well, the call is coming from inside the House because Democrats, on their own leaders, they don’t like their own leaders,” Enten began. “I dare say they despise their own leaders.” He said the result represented a major difference from the political environment in 2018, when Democrats were preparing for a successful campaign to regain control of the House during Trump’s first term.

“Take a look here: net approval of congressional Dem leaders among Democrats,” Enten said in the clip. “Back in 2018, look at this: their net approval rating was plus 19 points. Hey, that’s pretty good. Two thumbs up, Siskel and Ebert.” He then pointed to the current minus 12-point rating displayed on the screen, producing the 31-point shift away from the party’s congressional leaders.

“Now we’re talking about two thumbs down,” Enten continued. “What a different world that we are in right now. Democrats do not like; they despise their own leadership.” Berman described the numbers as “D on D crime,” a phrase Enten immediately repeated. The segment then shifted from the party’s congressional leadership as a whole to Schumer’s standing with Democratic voters.

Enten showed that Schumer held a net favorability rating of plus 28 points among Democrats in 2018. That number climbed to plus 53 points in 2020, when Democrats ultimately regained control of the Senate. According to a Marquette University Law School poll conducted earlier in September, Schumer has since fallen to minus five points among members of his own party. “These are no bueno. No good numbers,” Enten said.

Watch Enten break down the Democratic leadership’s dismal numbers here:

🚨 NEW — Even CNN is forced to reveal that Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are “despised” by Democrats:

“Minus 12 points, what a different world that we are in right now. Democrats do not like, they despise their own leadership, this is a shift away among Democrats of 31…

— Proud Elephant 🇺🇸🦅 (@ProudElephant) September 23, 2026

“And this is among Democrats,” Enten stressed. “Democrats hate Chuck Schumer. They don’t like Chuck Schumer.” He added that Democratic Senate candidates have increasingly tried to avoid questions about whether they would support Schumer in the next leadership election. Some have pushed the question aside, according to Enten, while others have said they wouldn’t back him for another term as the party’s Senate leader.

Enten said available polling going back to 1985 contains no precedent for Schumer’s current position among Democratic voters. “The least popular Dem Senate leader ever since at least 1985, when we can track this,” he said. “Chuck Schumer is taking the cake when it comes to unpopularity for Senate leaders among Democrats, among their own party.” Enten then pointed to the Kalshi prediction market, which gave Schumer just a 55% chance of winning the next Democratic Senate leadership election.

Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.