Donald Trump fares terribly in poll questions that don’t relate to raw support. His favorability ratings are consistently underwater, even when surveying only Republicans. Until recently, he hasn’t done well in one-on-one matchups with other candidates, Democrat or GOP.
And in the latest poll from ABC News and the Washington Post, he’s done one worse: His trustworthiness among voters is so low that more people say they have faith in Hillary Clinton.
When asked if they believe Trump “is honest and trustworthy,” just 27 percent of the survey’s respondents (1,000 adults) say yes. 69 percent say no. For Clinton, those numbers are 37 percent and 59 percent, respectively.
Clinton’s reputation has taken a hit this election from her ongoing email scandal, a saga that seems to worsen “every time the former secretary of state insists that the truth is all out, and it’s no big deal.” Whereas her levels of honesty and trustworthiness were rated at a +11 in the June 2014 ABC News/Washington Post poll, for example, they’re now -22, and gradually sliding.
Yet Trump’s standing is somehow worse. The New York businessman has faced an onslaught of attacks about his business record in recent weeks, first from Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz on the debate stage, and ultimately with former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in a speech. The criticism has coincided with a surge for Cruz in recent primary states and the dissipation of Trump’s air of inevitability.
It’s not just the trustworthiness numbers that are troubling for Trump, though. Three other questions are bunched together with that measure in the ABC News/Washington Post poll, which gauge the public’s opinion of Trump’s relatability with Americans and qualifications to be president. His results are dismal in each.
