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Trump's Poll Numbers; Mikaela Shiffrin is Interviewed about Her Season. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 31, 2026 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Several plans, sometimes in conflict with each other. But what I'm asking is what you think. Would you be satisfied with the end of U.S. efforts if the Strait of Hormuz was still closed?

REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA): No, of course not. I'm one of those guys who always say, if you're going to go in and do something, do it full- throated. Don't hold back. If you go to command and staff school, warfighting school, war college, we always talk about what -- how you lose popular support. It's usually when you go half -- half-measures. When you go into Vietnam or Afghanistan or Iraq and you don't go full measures, it lasts a lot longer and you lose popular support.

I would make the case that's why Afghanistan was not a complete success. We should have never came out of Afghanistan with fewer people there than we had in Spain. We never even fought a war in Spain. We paid the price for that. The Afghanis were then paying the price. And I think we make mistakes like that a lot in our history because we don't want the Americans to feel the pain.

They're, obviously, feeling the pain right now. But this is temporary. We have the ability to control the Strait. We have the ability to control Kharg Island. We have the ability to cripple Iran so they cannot sponsor Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, or project power around the world. That's a good thing. But I think we should just finish this for sure.

BERMAN: And I should have noted, your, you know, a Marine, a Marine helicopter pilot, also a military emergency room doctor. So, you've got extensive experience serving the United States. And, obviously, we thank you for that.

You talk about half-measures. So, just to be clear, do you believe it would be a half-measure if the U.S. efforts were to end and the Strait was still closed?

MCCORMICK: To be clear, I think President Trump is using his ability to put pressure on his allies to get involved. I think he does this a lot. I don't think he's intending to vacate the Straits. I don't think he's intending to leave this unmeasured or undone. I think he's doing this to put a lot of pressure on people who should be involved for the right reasons. BERMAN: So, Richard Haass, the president emeritus of the Council on

Foreign Relations, called that strategy the "we broke it, you own it" strategy to U.S. allies. U.S. allies who were not part of the initial attack, or any of the attacks, on Iran. But the president is now calling on them to be the ones to open the Strait. Do you think that's a fair assessment?

MCCORMICK: I can understand why he'd say that. But, quite frankly, I think we're dealing with something that was affecting the entire world anyways. Iran always had the control of the Hormuz Straits, and I think they've always been projecting hate and discontent, terrorism around the world. I mean we all suffer from that.

BERMAN: Yes.

MCCORMICK: We have been paying the price not only with them, with NATO, with the United Nations and other organizations for decades now. So, this is nothing new.

BERMAN: You say they've always had control of the Strait of Hormuz. Do you know when the last time was that the Strait was open?

MCCORMICK: Obviously I do. I know it was before the war. But this is something they've always threatened us. They've always talked about raining fire down from heaven on the great Satan, which is us. They've actively killed probably around a thousand Americans through their proxies, over 40 attacks. This stuff wasn't going to go away.

BERMAN: Yes. No, I was in Iraq with U.S. troops who were constantly under attack from Iranian proxies there, to be clear.

I do want to ask you, there's, what, 460 kilograms of enriched uranium, nuclear possible -- you know, the ingredients for nuclear material still in Iran. That was an assessment from Steve Witkoff just the other day. Again, this gets to, how would you be satisfied or would you be satisfied if that material's still in Iran when the war is over, would that be a successful mission?

MCCORMICK: I don't think so. I'm looking to see what they're going to do with that. I think that's going to be part of the negotiations to end this. First of all, having full access to anything that's nuclear. Either the Israelis are going to go in there, raid them, or we're going to go in there and raid them, or we're going to have somebody at the (INAUDIBLE) come in there armed to the teeth.

But I think, ultimately, that is the main weapon I'm mostly concerned with. If you read that book, "Nuclear War," and you talk about how one proxy -- one person, one crazy person, it could be Kim Jong-un or someone in Iran through an autocratic theocracy, someone who doesn't really care what happens to the world, that's what the more concerning thing is. Literally fulfilling a prophecy in their mind, talking about raining down fire from heaven. That sounds like a nuclear weapon to me. That they would kill 50,000 of their own citizens. What do you think they'd do to us? That's the thing that keeps me awake at night, for sure.

BERMAN: All right, Congressman Rich McCormick, from Georgia, we do appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much for being with us.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are following some breaking news. We're learning more from police now about Tiger Woods' DUI crash. What the arrest affidavit is now revealing and shows.

And a semi-truck loses control and nearly crashes right into a home. We are now learning -- look at that.

[09:35:01]

What we're now learning about the driver's condition this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: There have been a number of new polls on the president's approval rating, all basically showing the same thing. It's not high.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: No.

BERMAN: And -- no. In fact, it's very, very low.

With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

And again, this was happening even before the war in Iran, but it seems to have sped up a little bit. How low are we talking?

ENTEN: We are talking as low as Death Valley. And this, I think, is so key here, which is, you know, Johnny B. was pointing out, you know, it is sped up now, but this has been a steady fall into the abyss.

[09:40:04]

There is no bottom. Death Valley. Death Sea. That is how low we are going.

And look at this. I think this really just kind of shows it. It is not one event that is dragging Donald Trump down. It's a slew of events that have come together and have continuously dropped his net approval rating.

You know, you go back to last year when he was sworn in for a second term, he was at plus six points. Then minus three points a year ago. Minus seven points nine months ago. Minus ten points on October 20, 2025. January 2026, minus 13 points. And now all the way down to minus 18 points. A term too low. And what is so key to point out here is, let's just say that somehow we got out of the Iran war tomorrow. Yes, it might climb a little bit, but we have seen this steady, slow or steady and dropping number that just seems no sign of rising.

BERMAN: What's the comparison with his first term in office?

ENTEN: Yes, I think what's so important to point out here is right now we've seen that steady drop downward. In term one it was anything but that. Take a look here. The three-month change in Trump's net approval rating at this point in the term. In term one he was actually rising at this point. He was actually going up. His three-month change was up by five points. Now we're talking about a three month change in which he has fallen to a new term two low, in which he's at minus 18 points. In term one at this point he was actually higher. Remember, Trump was breaking all those records during term one, right? But at this point in term one, he was at minus 12 point in his net approval rating. He is now six points lower than he was at term two, at where he is right now in term two at this point. And he is just continuously falling. While term one he managed to turn it around. It was actually rising. And there's no sign of any bottom at this point in term number two.

BERMAN: Yes, a big, big difference there. And Republicans who are running for office in a few months watching this with a lot of trepidation.

Let's talk about independents, which has been this group which really has just been eye-popping the last few months.

ENTEN: Eye-popping indeed. This number, if -- if there's one big number from this is that Donald Trump now has the worst net approval rating among independents of any president ever at this point in term two. He is worse than Richard Nixon, who would be going adios, amigos in a few months back in 1974 in term two. Look at this, minus 45 points. Worse than George W. Bush at this point in term two. The Iraq War was weighing him down at minus 37. And worse than Richard Nixon when, of course, there were all those impeachment hearings back in 1974 at minus 36 points. He's nearly ten points worse among independents on his net approval rating at this point in term two, Donald Trump is, than Richard Nixon. My goodness gracious.

BERMAN: The height of Watergate we're comparing it to here.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: All right, talk about possible collateral damage. I mean the president can't run again despite musings there.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: But what impact might this be having on, say, others close to him?

ENTEN: Others close to him. The vice president of the United States. Chance at J.D. Vance is a 2028 Republican nominee. Six months ago he was at a 53 percent chance. Down he goes. He goes down, a 37 percent chance according to the Kalshi prediction market. This is tied for his all-time low, J.D. Vance. But, you know, you just go back here, a slow or steady drop, my goodness gracious, with no sign of a bottom. Death Valley.

BERMAN: And that's a big number to be dealing (ph) with, Harry (ph).

ENTEN: That is a big, big number.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much for that.

ENTEN: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: We got a lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:47:55]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, on our radar for you today, attorneys for the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk are asking to delay a preliminary hearing scheduled for May. They want time to review a mountain of evidence, including an FBI bullet analysis they believe could help 22-year-old Tyler Robertson's defense. He's charged with aggravated murder, and prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

Also, a scary close call in California. A big rig losing control on a residential street, hitting a couple of cars and nearly slamming into a home. A woman who was inside and said it just missed the bedroom that she was in. The semi finally came to a rest, dangling over a terrace. Amazingly, only one person was hurt in all of this. We still do not know what caused the semi to end up like this.

All right, new dash cam video shows the moment a police officer pulled a driver from a burning car on the side of highway in Saint Louis, Missouri. The vehicle flipped over after rear ending another car. The officer ended up pulling the trapped driver, look at that, to safety. And I think it was just minutes as the flames just started to engulf that car. Thank goodness, amazingly, there were only minor injuries in that particular crash.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank goodness for that for sure.

SIDNER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Also, thank goodness for a treat we have today.

Mikaela Shiffrin just keeps proving why she is amazing. The American superstar just won a record-tying sixth women's overall World Cup skiing title in Norway. That is after winning her third Olympic gold medal at this year's winter games. She is the most decorated skier in history. One of, if not, I'll argue, greatest alpine skiers of all time. And Mikaela is here in studio with us today, as she is, is just now wrapping up season, which is wild to even think.

MIKAELA SHIFFRIN, : Yes.

BOLDUAN: How are you?

SHIFFRIN: I'm great. I'm happy to be here. Yes, I just got back from Europe like two days ago.

BOLDUAN: Yes. So, I guess -- maybe, I was going to say, what is the highlight when you have so many highlights of your career of this Olympic games? SIDNER: Something we're not aware of.

[09:50:06]

BOLDUAN: I mean what's the highlight of this historic season maybe?

SHIFFRIN: Yes. I think that the highlight was the way that my team and I worked together. It, it's always, it's such a, it is really such a, a team that makes success like this possible, right. And the coaches and staff and physical therapists and everybody has such an important role to play. But I think even a -- even from years past, this season was really, really crucial for us to be on the same page like mentally. I worked with a psychologist. I have been for the last four years. But going into the Olympics, we actually sort of brought -- did like team psychology lessons or --

BOLDUAN: Wow.

SHIFFRIN: Lessons. I mean, chats, I guess, not lessons. Team psychology chats. And really tried to like work on the communication and really get in the same page so that really we could go into the Olympics and feel very, very, very unified. And that, I think, is probably the thing I'm the most proud of this season. It was sort of the catalyst or the thing that allowed for all of this to happen. So --

BOLDUAN: It's just so awesome because, right, you see -- it feels so individual, the sport, right, but you're talking about the team.

SHIFFRIN: Yes.

SIDNER: There's a lot more.

BERMAN: I follow you on social media, which isn't stalkery. I follow both of you on social media also.

(CROSS TALK).

BERMAN: And since you won the gold in the Olympics, I swear every day you looked like you were having so much fun. Like, am -- like, I don't know who's doing these photos --

SIDNER: The pressure is off.

BERMAN: But it's sort of off the hook over the last few months. And I'm just curious if it's been as much fun as it looks like on your feed?

SHIFFRIN: I have to say that after winning the gold --

SIDNER: Hold that bad boy up.

SHIFFRIN: OK.

SIDNER: It's here with us. I mean, we've got to show it off.

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

SHIFFRIN: After getting this, it -- you know, the thing is, with the slalom race, I felt like, finally I just had -- I just had to accept the possibility that I was not going to win. There might not be a medal. It happened in Beijing. It could happen again for all the different reasons. And I can't control what people are going to say about that. And if it happens, it happens. But I still want to show up. Like, it's worth it for the turns I can make between the start and the finish. And that's -- that was really my mentality going into the slalom race. But it was really hard to get there because the truth is you want this so much. So now I can talk about it and just, I'm like so thankful. But I -- to your point, the rest of this season has been a little bit easier to sort of be like, whoa, because, gosh, I really don't want to know what the world -- my world would be like without that.

BOLDUAN: You don't have to worry about that.

SHIFFRIN: You know, like, thank you for making it happen.

BERMAN: You bossed that race. I mean you -- I mean, seriously, what you did to that race was --

SHIFFRIN: It was really --

BERMAN: It's criminal. I mean --

SIDNER: Criminal?

BOLDUAN: In a good way.

BERMAN: It was so fast.

SIDNER: In a good way.

BERMAN: It was so fast.

SHIFFRIN: No, it was good. It was the best performance I've ever had on an Olympic stage by far.

SIDNER: I want to ask you. You've talked on your -- you have a -- you have a podcast called "Catching up with Mikaela Shiffrin." And on it you talked about uncertainty and fear. And you also just now told us about you have psychologists who sort of comes and talks to the team. How do you deal with that pressure? Because you -- there is this enormous pressure because everyone is expecting something from you.

SHIFFRIN: Yes. I think -- I think there's -- OK, so expect -- there's phases of a career, or at least for mine. It's where that expectation really starts to build after you've set a standard, you have some success, the expectation builds, and then, for a period of time, it feels really uncomfortable to have to have expectation. And that feels like pressure.

And then, over time, I sort of broke through that barrier where the expectation really isn't as much of a problem. It's more being fearful of the criticism that's going to come when you don't meet those expectations. And also the side of it that, with expectation is this assumption that it's easy when you do something well. And that really gets me a little bit frustrated because no matter how many slalom races I did this season, how -- I won nine out of ten slaloms. And, of course, after the fact, it felt like, wow, that was amazing. But every time I crossed the finish line, the first thought I had was, like, I don't know that I can do that again. That took so much of me. So much precision and focus and everything.

So, it only almost -- more success almost brings more uncertainty in my experience. And the rest of the world is saying, oh, well, you win that one. You have it in the bag. Like, obviously. I'm like, no, you don't understand. And if I don't, it -- it's not -- it's going to be a lot of criticism. But if I do, then it's like, oh, well, that was just the bare minimum.

SIDNER: We don't know about what too much success feels like, but I one day hope to.

BOLDUAN: We can't wait. We can't wait.

I heave to say, it's -- but it's your -- it's your candor, your honesty and your -- and also just like, you just own the public journey that you have traveled so many times, you know, physically, mentally, emotionally in this -- I mean, what are you, 30?

[09:55:09]

SHIFFRIN: Yes, 30 -- 31.

BOLDUAN: I mean, like, yes --

SIDNER: Just had a birthday in March, right?

SHIFFRIN: I just turned 31.

BOLDUAN: Happy birthday, girl.

SHIFFRIN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Happy birthday.

BOLDUAN: But that you have journeyed on so publicly, which is why you were such a role model. I have two girls here that have -- or been following you around all morning.

SHIFFRIN: So sweet.

BOLDUAN: So, thanks. They're -- to be such a role model for girls and boys coming up in this sport. I mean, your motto -- I mean it's changed over time. I mean I've talked about it with the girls, always be faster than the boys. Just like what that means and how you're bringing it now into the foundation that you're working with.

SHIFFRIN: Yes. I think -- I think sport is just so beautiful. It's so special to be able to dedicate any part of your life, any part of your energy and your spirit to sport and movement and being active. And there's a social component. There's a discipline component. There's learning how to be motivated and work ethic and how you can just sort of bloom your life around that. And I have -- sport's been such a gift in my life. And especially, obviously, snow sports in the mountains.

So, with Share Winter Foundation, the work that we've done over the last year, the last couple years to promote the work they're doing to help youth access sports that wouldn't otherwise have this access to getting on the mountains and getting on skis and snowboard, that's been really -- it's been really beautiful because I feel like you can -- you can be successful in one area, but if you can't share it with people or connect, that it just kind of falls flat.

And since my dad passed away, I have felt a deeper -- like a deeper perspective on connection with other humans for better reasons than just, I don't know, just like on deeper meaning, like to understand each other and to understand what other humans are going through. So, it's kind of like my -- this part of my life. I'm in a constant search to just connect with others on something that means more.

BOLDUAN: In sports. Yes.

SHIFFRIN: And I feel like sport means so much. So.

BOLDUAN: We all loved you as an athlete.

SIDNER: We all -- yes.

BOLDUAN: Now I think love you even more as a human.

SIDNER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: So, thank you.

SHIFFRIN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Congratulations.

SHIFFRIN: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: It's not like you need it from us, but, geez, that's amazing.

SIDNER: It's the closest I've ever been to an award like this.

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

SHIFFRIN: If you want to pick it up.

SIDNER: This is --

BOLDUAN: Mikaela Shiffrin, everyone.

SIDNER: I -- no.

BOLDUAN: We have been blessed. BERMAN: Sara Sidner, world champion!

BOLDUAN: No, Sara.

We love you.

BERMAN: Thank you all so much for being with us.

(CROSS TALK)

BERMAN: We're not going to break anything.

"THE SITUATION ROOM" is up next.

BOLDUAN: Oh, my God, Sara.

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