The new ABC News-Washington Post poll captures a candidate in apparent freefall.
Donald Trump is now down 12 points to Hillary Clinton, a 14-point swing from where he stood barely a month ago, roughly the period since he locked up the Republican nomination.
The poll also suggests that Trump’s divisive campaign can easily further alienate voters. There’s quite a bit further that he can fall, particularly as the nation looks more favorably on the incumbent Democratic president Trump has sought to cast himself against.
But there are also glimmers of opportunity for Trump, as reflected in concerns about Clinton’s candidacy, and broader societal forces at play this year.
First, the downside: The way voters are viewing Trump makes it look like he’s lucky to be down only 12 points. Two-thirds of voters think he’s biased against women, minorities and Muslims. A similar number of voters believe his comments about a federal judge of Mexican heritage were racist.
Sixty-four percent of Americans see Trump as unqualified for the presidency, meaning he gets at least some support now from people who think he can’t do the job. Only 77 percent of Republicans support him in a head-to-head matchup against Clinton, down from 85 percent when the divisive GOP primary fight essentially ended.
Also in the new poll, Clinton is leading among all age groups. She is tied among male voters, and up 23 points among women.
Helping Trump, potentially, are Hillary Clinton’s well-known weaknesses as a candidate. Half of those polled say they are anxious about the idea of her as president, and her handling of her own emails continues to spur doubts.
A strong majority of voters say they’re looking for a “new direction” from the next president. Trump is up 10 points among white voters. Plus, his appeal is tied to economic and cultural frustrations that are similar to those that drove last week’s shocking vote by Great Britain to exit the European Union.
That parallel hasn’t been lost on Trump. He used a fundraising email to call on his supporters to “re-declare our independence” in part by taking “back our country from the corrupt career politicians.”
Yet while the climate might favor Trump, the forecast clearly doesn’t. Built in to Trump’s campaign is a calculation that a strong majority of voters will want to reject the Obama years.
Trump may or may not make America great again, but he is making Obama look pretty good again at the moment. The new poll puts Obama’s approval rating at 56 percent; its highest level since November 2009, when his presidency was less than a year old.
from ABC News: Politics http://ift.tt/28Z6NWw
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