In a sharp reversal from its last survey, the new ABC News/Washington Post poll released Sunday shows Hillary Clinton opening up a 12-point lead over Donald Trump among registered voters nationwide. A whopping 64 percent of respondents, including nearly one-third of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, said Trump is unqualified to serve as president.
Clinton leads 51-39 in the poll, which was conducted by Langer Research Associates from June 20-23. The last ABC News/Washington Post poll, in mid-May, showed Trump leading Clinton by two points nationally. The 14-point swing has come during a time when Trump posted anemic campaign fundraising numbers, faced a fierce backlash, including from within his own party, for attacking a federal judge’s Mexican heritage, and endured widespread condemnation for his over-heated response to the attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando.
A separate NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll also released Sunday gave Clinton a 5-point lead over Trump among registered voters nationally, 46-41.
In the ABC News/Washington Post poll, Clinton still held a double digit lead among registered voters when third-party candidates were included: Clinton 47, Trump 37, Libertarian Gary Johnson 7, and the Green Party’s Jill Stein 3.
Nearly as many respondents (61 percent) said Clinton was qualified to serve as president as said Trump was unqualified (64 percent). “Clinton maintains a 2-to-1 advantage on which candidate has the best personality and temperament to be president,” the Post reported.
Among the findings, according to ABC: 66 percent said Trump is unfairly biased against women, minorities or Muslims; 68 percent said Trump’s comment about Judge Gonzalo Curiel was “racist,” and racist or not 85 percent said it was inappropriate.
“The public by 56-36 percent, a 20-point margin, says Trump is standing against their beliefs as opposed to standing up for their beliefs,” ABC reported.
But support for Trump remained among some respondents despite (or because of?) his extreme rhetoric. According to the Post, “18 percent of people who found Trump’s comments about the judge racist, 15 percent of those who think his comments generally are biased against women, minorities or Muslims, and 11 percent of those who think he is unqualified say they support Trump.”
The ABC News/Washington Post poll surveyed 1,001 adults by phone and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
