We keep hearing that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the most unpopular presidential candidates in history. But do we know why? Bloomberg wanted to know, so they did a poll, as reported in Business Insider. We thought we’d share the top nine annoyances of each candidate.
The chief controversy bothering voters about Donald Trump is his perceived mocking of a disabled reporter late last year, while the top controversy pestering voters about Hillary Clinton is her use of a private email server while she served as secretary of state, according to a poll released Wednesday.
The Bloomberg poll asked 1,007 Americans over the age of 18 about how much, or how little, a series of nine issues expressed by political opponents of Trump or Clinton bothered them.
The list has the most annoying thing at the top, and says whether respondents thought the item bothered them a lot or a little, with the total annoyance percentage.
Trump:
1. Perceived mocking of a disabled reporter:
Bothers a lot: 62%, a little: 21%, Total: 83%2. His criticism of the Khan family:
Bothers a lot: 56%. a little: 19%, Total: 75%3. Saying that “I alone” can fix the country’s problems
Bothers a lot: 54%, a little: 21%, Total: 75%4. Suggesting that the US might not automatically defend all NATO allies
Bothers a lot: 50%, a little: 24%, Total: 74%5. Saying that he’s sacrificed a lot in business after Khizr Khan said he has never sacrificed anything:
Bothers a lot: 48%, a little: 25%, Total: 73%6. Trump University lawsuits:
Bothers a lot: 44%, a little: 27%, Total: 71%7. His praise of Vladimir Putin
Bothers a lot: 42%, a little: 27%, Total: 69%8. His decision to not yet release his tax returns
Bothers a lot: 44%, a little: 24%, Total: 68%9. Suggesting that Russian hackers should try and find Clinton’s deleted emails
Bothers a lot: 45%, a little: 21%, Total: 66%Clinton:
1. Handling of sensitive information on a private email server:
Bothers a lot: 58%, a little: 22%, Total: 80%2. Handling of the Benghazi attack in 2012:
Bothers a lot: 55%, a little: 20%, Total: 75%3. Clinton foundation accepting money from foreign governments while she was secretary of state
Bothers a lot: 53%, a little: 21%, Total: 74%4. Clinton’s private speeches to Wall Street firms
Bothers a lot: 44%, a little: 22%. Total: 66%5. Her handling of violence in the Middle East while she was secretary of state:
Bothers a lot: 43%. a little: 21%, Total: 64%6. Her decision to flip her support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership:
Bothers a lot: 30%, a little: 34%, Total: 64%7. Her decision to rarely hold press conferences
Bothers a lot: 28%, a little: 32%, Total: 60%8. Voting for the Iraq War
Bothers a lot: 26%, a little: 29%, Total: 55%9. Embracing President Barack Obama and much of his agenda
Bothers a lot: 36%. a little: 17%, Total: 53%
It’s interesting that most of the things that bother people about Trump were self-inflicted one-time events, such as mocking the reporter. But most of Hillary’s issues are more policy oriented or long-term, such as her email headache. The implication is that Trump could be a lot more popular if he just watched what he said, whereas the public seems to disagree with Hillary on things she can’t change.
For those who like a graphic, RealClearPolitics shows the overall favorability/unfavorability ratings of both candidates. Donald Trump’s unfavorability rating has remained fairly consistent over the past year, between 55 and 65%.
Meanwhile, Hillary’s unfavorability was only 46% a year ago, peaked at 56% in late July, settling back to about 53% now.
And, finally, what does it all mean? The Washington Times says the fact that we hate the both major party candidates means that they’re both going to work extra hard to help us hate them both even more.
Political analysts say that the historically high unfavorable ratings for both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump have left both campaigns with little choice than to focus the bulk of their efforts on tearing the other down, hoping that when the war of attrition finally is over, swing voters ultimately will decide their candidate is the lesser of two evils. . .
Lara Brown, a political science professor at George Washington University [says] “There is a way in which ‘crooked’ will beat ‘unstable,’” she added, referring to the “crooked Hillary” nickname Mr. Trump has given his opponent. “The only way you hold your nose and vote for one of these people is if you think your worst nightmare is going to come true.”
This is going to be a long 77 days…
