AP-GfK Poll: Candidates disliked, viewed as dishonest

WASHINGTON – Americans have negative views of both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. He comes off as a little worse.

In a new Associated Press-GfK poll, she’s viewed as more qualified, civil and compassionate than Trump, but voters are somewhat more likely to view her as corrupt.

But even on her biggest weaknesses, Trump fails to do much better in polling. Both candidates are widely viewed as dishonest.

Things to know about Americans’ views of the presidential candidates:

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DISLIKED, DISHONEST

Both Trump and Clinton are widely disliked by majorities of registered voters, but negative feelings about Trump outpace those for Clinton, 61 per cent to 56 per cent.

More also say their unfavourable opinion of Trump is a strong one than say the same of Clinton, 50 per cent to 44 per cent.

Twenty-six per cent of Republican registered voters have an unfavourable opinion of their party’s nominee, while 21 per cent of Democratic voters have an unfavourable opinion of theirs.

Only 27 per cent of Americans say Clinton is at least somewhat honest, while 53 per cent say she’s not honest at all. Trump performs marginally better on that measure, with 32 per cent saying he’s very or somewhat honest and 49 per cent not at all honest.

Nearly half of voters —49 per cent — say Clinton is at least somewhat corrupt, while 43 per cent say the same of Trump.

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CLINTON MORE QUALIFIED, CIVIL

Despite voters’ negative feelings for both candidates, there are relative bright spots for the former secretary of state, who is seen as more qualified, civil and compassionate than Trump.

Fifty-three per cent call Clinton at least somewhat qualified, while just 30 per cent say Trump is.

Just 42 per cent say Clinton is at least somewhat compassionate, but Trump fares worse, at 25 per cent. About half call each nominee at least somewhat decisive.

Fifty per cent of voters call Clinton at least somewhat civil. Just 24 per cent say the same of Trump, and even among his own supporters 42 per cent say that word describes him only slightly or not at all well. Half of voters say Trump is at least somewhat racist, while only a third say that word doesn’t apply to him at all.

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JOHNSON, STEIN STILL UNKNOWN

Americans still don’t know much about Libertarian Gary Johnson or Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Six in 10 registered voters say they don’t know enough about Johnson to form an opinion, while 7 in 10 say the same about Stein. For both, that’s an improvement in name recognition since July.

Voters who do have an opinion on Johnson are split, with 17 per cent giving him a favourable rating and 21 per cent an unfavourable one. Views of Stein are more negative than positive, 19 per cent to 9 per cent.

Both the Democratic and Republican vice-presidential nominees are also largely unknown. Twenty-nine per cent of registered voters have a favourable and 27 per cent have an unfavourable opinion of Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, with 44 per cent saying they don’t know enough about him to say. More than half of voters — 52 per cent — say they don’t know enough about Clinton’s running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, while 27 per cent have a favourable opinion and 20 per cent an unfavourable one.

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ANGER, FEAR, NO EXCITEMENT

Both candidates inspire mostly negative emotions, but American voters are particularly anxious about the Republican.

Only 29 per cent of registered voters would be excited and 24 per cent would be proud if Trump is elected president, while nearly half (46 per cent) would be angry. Perhaps most crucially, 56 per cent of voters say they would be afraid.

Clinton elicits somewhat less negative emotions but also relatively little enthusiasm. Only 30 per cent say they’d be excited if she’s elected and 32 per cent that they’d be proud. And large minorities say they’d be angry (38 per cent) or afraid (44 per cent).

Three-quarters of voters say opposition to the other candidate is a major reason for supporting his or her foe.

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The AP-GfK Poll of 1,694 adults, including 1,476 registered voters, was conducted online Sept. 15-19, using a sample drawn from GfK’s probability-based KnowledgePanel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, and for registered voters is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

Respondents were first selected randomly using telephone or mail survey methods and later interviewed online. People selected for KnowledgePanel who didn’t have access to the internet were provided access for free.

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Online:

Poll results: http://ap-gfkpoll.com

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Follow AP Polling Editor Emily Swanson at: http://twitter.com/El_Swan