Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by six percentage points, 47-41, in a hypothetical general election matchup, according to a new New York Times/CBS News poll.
But Trump is gaining ground. A CBS poll from last month showed Clinton ahead of Trump by ten percentage points, 50-40. The newest polling suggests Trump has had some success since becoming the GOP’s presumptive nominee at wrangling Republicans reluctant to support his candidacy.
Republican voters, however, appear less optimistic about their future than Democrats. Approximately 43 percent of Republican voters say they are “mostly discouraged” about the future of their party, as compared to 17 percent of Democrats who claim the same about their party. Similarly, 84 percent of GOP voters surveyed said their party was divided, while 48 percent of Democrats thought their party was divided.
Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose continued presence in the 2016 Democratic race will raise the blood pressure of party officials concerned with unity, leads Trump by a greater margin than Clinton. Sanders leads Trump by 13 percentage points, 51-38, in what the New York Times described as a “more hypothetical matchup.”
While the country’s two major parties’ supporters are divided, the registered voters’ surveyed appear to agree on at least one major thing — they can’t trust either party’s front-running candidate. Approximately 64 percent of registered voters said Trump is not honest and trustworthy, and the same percentage said the same about Clinton. Two-thirds of registered voters said Trump does not share their values, while 60 percent of registered voters said the same about Clinton.
Clinton’s poll numbers are hampered by the fact that white people can’t stand her. Approximately 63 percent of whites have an unfavorable view of Clinton, and 23 percent of whites had a favorable view. She performs nearly as bad with men, 58 percent of whom view her unfavorably while 26 percent of men view her favorably.
Trump, meanwhile, faces staunch opposition from women, young people and nonwhite voters.
Just 21 percent of female voters view Trump favorably, compared to 60 percent of women who view him unfavorably. Trump performs even worse with millennials aged 18-29, just 14 percent of whom view the billionaire favorably. But nonwhite voters appear to despise Trump most, as 12 percent view him favorably and 68 percent view him unfavorably.
The New York Times/CBS News poll surveyed 1,109 registered voters by telephone from May 13-17 with a three-percentage-point margin of error.
