Washington

Poll: Trump Arrests Slide, but Favorability Reaches New Depths

President Donald Trump (Rob Kunzig/Morning Consult)

Donald Trump is more unpopular than ever, according to a new Morning Consult poll, but he gained ground on Hillary Clinton for the first time since the Republican Party’s convention in Cleveland last month, trimming her lead to 7 points.

In the new national survey taken Aug. 11 through Aug. 14, the GOP presidential nominee picked up 2 percentage points against Clinton but still trails her — 44 percent to 37 percent — in a head-to-head matchup. Part of the deficit can be attributed to defections within Trump’s own party: 77 percent of Republicans back him, compared with 83 percent of Democrats who say they’d for Clinton if the election were held now.

NameApproveDon't Know / No OpinionDisapproveNet Value
Joe Biden42850-8
Jair Bolsonaro40654-14
Mario Draghi5953524
Boris Johnson35559-24
Fumio Kishida4515414
Emmanuel Macron41751-10
Narendra Modi7461955
Moon Jae-in38656-18
Scott Morrison40654-13
Andrés Manuel López Obrador6662739
Pedro Sánchez38855-17
Olaf Scholz499428
Justin Trudeau40654-14

Independents remain evenly divided, with one-third opting for Clinton and another third backing Trump. Clinton maintains her advantage over Trump among men — 43 percent to 41 percent — and boasts an 11-point lead among women: 45 percent to 34 percent.

Following another tempestuous week for Trump, who was criticized for controversial comments about the Second Amendment and his accusation that President Obama founded the Islamic State terror group, his popularity is at its lowest since Morning Consult began asking voters about the Republican candidate last summer. Sixty-two percent of voters said they have an unfavorable view of the GOP nominee, with 51 percent saying they view him very unfavorably.

Trump’s popularity problem is most striking among minority groups: 67 percent of Hispanic voters and 78 percent of black voters view him unfavorably.

Twenty-nine percent of Republicans also view Trump unfavorably, and his popularity is even worse among those who consider themselves part of the tea party movement, with 39 percent of those voters viewing him unfavorably.

Clinton’s favorability also took a hit, dropping 2 points. She is viewed unfavorably by 58 percent of voters. After a few weeks of scant negative headlines, the former secretary of state came under criticism following the release of another batch of State Department emails, which raised questions about the Clinton Foundation’s influence over the Cabinet agency.

When accounting for other candidates in the race, Clinton leads Trump by 6 points: 39 percent to 33 percent.

NameApproveDon't Know / No OpinionDisapproveNet Value
Joe Biden42850-8
Jair Bolsonaro40754-14
Mario Draghi5953624
Boris Johnson34561-28
Fumio Kishida391546-7
Emmanuel Macron37755-18
Narendra Modi7472054
Moon Jae-in38656-19
Scott Morrison40654-14
Andrés Manuel López Obrador63112636
Pedro Sánchez41851-10
Olaf Scholz45946-1
Justin Trudeau41653-12

Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein are struggling to gain traction with voters and, barring a major shift, are unlikely to make the debate stage scheduled for late September. Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico, pulled in 9 percent of the vote, while Stein is the first choice for 4 percent of voters.

The national survey polled 2,001 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. See the toplines and crosstabs.

Morning Consult