Few US voters like Clinton or Trump: poll

Washington, July 15: As Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton head to their parties' respective conventions to be formally nominated as their presidential candidates, a poll released today showed that only a very small percentage of US voters have expressed positive views about both contenders.

Just 18 per cent of registered voters checked the description "someone you admire" for Clinton and even fewer (10 per cent) indicate that this description applies to Trump, the Pew Research said releasing its latest survey.

Pew said few voters also associate the word "honest" with either Trump (19 per cent) or Clinton (13 per cent). This also is the case for the phrase "can unite the country" – 19 per cent indicate that this describes Trump, while 17 per cent check it for Clinton.

According to Pew, Clinton is viewed more positively – and less negatively – than Trump in several dimensions. About a third (36 per cent) checks "well-informed" for Clinton, compared with 13 per cent who do so for Trump.

And while 36 per cent associate the phrase "willing to work with people they disagree with" to Clinton, just 20 per cent indicate that it applies to Trump.

The largest gap between perceptions of Clinton and Trump is over whether the word "extreme" applies to each. More than half of voters (55 per cent) indicate that this description applies to Trump, while just 19 per cent associate it with Clinton.

The new survey was conducted from June 7 - July 5 among 4,602 adults, including 3,834 registered voters, on the Pew Research Centre's nationally representative American Trends Panel, a media release said.

PTI