Left and right views · Institution
CNN
A live-interviewer news-network poll. Ballotpedia's 2025 reproduction of 538 grades gave CNN 2.8 stars. Some CNN releases ask adults, not likely voters.
A dated synthesis from named sources. It summarizes recurring broad-left and broad-right public arguments. It is not a score or a claim about every voter.
Broad leftA live-interviewer poll from a TV network
Democratic-aligned readers place CNN's live-interviewer poll beside Quinnipiac, while checking whether the sample was adults or likely voters.
- They like that a human called a human.
- They treat a Democratic generic as another telephone poll pointing in the same direction.
- They still warn that an adults sample includes people who will not vote.
Sources: CNN Polling Center; Ballotpedia polling index
Broad rightAdults, a TV brand, and a blue month
Republican-aligned readers treat CNN as a network poll and treat an adults sample as a class photo of the country, not as November.
- They put the population line first: adults is not likely voters.
- They compare it with closer polls and attribute part of the gap to recurring pollster differences.
- They still list the release because excluding a network poll would hide a published measurement.
Sources: CNN Polling Center; infinitenews methodology on individual polls
Limits of this guide
Check the population line on each CNN release. Adults and likely voters are different questions.