There’s Only One Candidate People Actually Like – and It’s Not Trump or Clinton
The only one of
the declared presidential candidates that Americans have positive
feelings for overall isn’t a frontrunner and has never held public
office before. According to a poll released Thursday by Public Policy Polling,
retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is the sole presidential candidate
whose favorability rating is higher than his or her unfavorability
rating.
When asked
about Carson, 41 percent of the respondents in the national poll
reported that they felt favorably about him, compared to 30 percent who
have an unfavorable view. That puts him well ahead of all the other
candidates in the field, though 29 percent of respondents said they were
not familiar enough with Carson to make a judgment about him,
suggesting that those numbers could change as he becomes more widely
known. The only other candidate to come close to an overall favorable
rating was former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who at 32/35 had an
overall favorability rating of -3.
Related: Trump Rips Bush for Speaking Spanish, Bush Calls Trump a GermophobeOf the two frontrunners, Donald Trump did just slightly better than Clinton on the favorability scale, coming in at 35/53 favorable/unfavorable for a net favorability rating of -19. Clinton clocks in at 36/55, for a net score of -19.
The good news for Clinton is that likability doesn’t appear to be directly tied to electability.
Despite
the fact that voters appear to like Trump slightly better, in a
theoretical head-to-head election match-up, Clinton actually edges the
real estate billionaire 46 percent to 44 percent. And despite his vastly
better favorability levels, Clinton ties Carson in a head-to-head poll
44-44. Clinton easily topped each of the other Republican candidates she
was tested against.
The news for some of the other candidates in the field was pretty grim.
New
Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, for example, showed an overall
favorable/unfavorable rating of 24/57, a -33 net rating. Even if every
one of the 19 percent of respondents who don’t know enough about him to
form an opinion were to decide they like him, Christie would still be
negative in double digits.
Kentucky
Sen. Rand Paul had an even worse showing that Christie, posting a 19/57
favorable/unfavorable split for a net score of -38. Like Christie,
there aren’t enough people with no opinion of Paul to tip him into
positive territory even if all 23 percent of them broke his way.
As
has been the case in most recent polls, Vice President Joe Biden, who
is said to be considering a run for the presidency, did reasonably well
in the poll. He posted a net favorable rating of 3 percent (43/40),
better than any of the actual declared candidates except Carson.
Biden
also did well in head-to-head theoretical general election matchups. He
tops Trump easily, 47-41, and also came in ahead of former Florida
governor Jeb Bush 43-41.
However,
it’s important to note that Biden, who is viewed affectionately by many
Americans, is not a declared candidate, and his numbers could change
dramatically if he starts to be seen by partisans on both sides as a
threat to their favored candidates.
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