Donald Trump and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush have a worse favorability rating at this stage of the presidential race than any candidate who has become their party’s nominee since 1984, according to a new poll.
Trump has a net negative rating of -27 percentage points and Bush has a net negative rating of -23 percentage points among all respondents to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.
Trump’s favorability rating among Republicans dropped 12 percentage points since November. Trump currently leads the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings.
“While no candidate is liked by a majority of Americans, Trump’s and Bush’s ratings are significantly worse at this point than any candidates since 1984 who have won their parties’ nominations,” writes the Post. “Jeb Bush and Trump’s ratings are closer to those of Newt Gingrich in early 2012, who held a -22 net favorable rating in January and -28 rating in March. (Gingrich, of course, lost the nomination fight to Romney.)”
Meanwhile, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have watched their favorability ratings among Republicans rise dramatically. Cruz’s net favorability rating grew ten percentage points among GOP voters since November, and Christie’s rating has jumped 20 points in the same timeframe.
Former President Bill Clinton has a better favorability rating than any 2016 presidential candidate — but his rating has dropped 10 percentage points in a little less than two years’ time.
The Post/ABC poll surveyed 1,000 adults from Jan. 6-10, including 277 Republicans. The survey has a 7.5 percentage point margin of error among Republicans.
