Poll: Unfavorable views of Donald Trump reach record high
Seven in 10 Americans have a negative view of Donald Trump, the Republican party's presumptive nominee, according to new Washington Post/ABC News poll released Wednesday.
That 70 percent -- including 56 percent who feel "strongly" about their unfavorable opinions -- is a record high for Trump since he became a candidate for the White House last summer. In the past month, that number has jumped 10 percentage points, up from 60 percent in May. Only 29 percent of Americans hold a positive view of Trump.
In comparison, a majority of Americans also view Hillary Clinton, the Democratic party's presumptive presidential nominee, in an unfavorable light: Forty-three percent say they have positive impressions of the former secretary of state, while 55 percent see her negatively. That unfavorable number -- a record for Clinton since 1992, just before she became first lady -- is just a two-percentage point hike from last month, when 53 percent viewed her negatively.
Registered voters have shifted their opinions of Trump lately, with 69 percent of them holding unfavorable opinions of the billionaire, compared to the 57 percent that did so in last month's poll. Clinton remained about the same with 56 percent of registered voters seeing her in a negative light -- just a one percentage point different from last month's 57 percent.
The survey also found that Trump has recently lost support among two critical voter groups: Independents and non-college whites.
For those white voters who don't have a four-year college degree, Trump's net favorable rating went from +14 in May to -7 in this month's survey. That still puts Trump far ahead of Clinton, however, whose net favorable rating among non-college white voters is -47.
Among independent voters, Trump's net favorable rating plunged from -19 in May to -38 in the June poll.
Trump does poorly among minority groups as well. He now has a 77 percent unfavorable rating among women (compared to Clinton's 47 percent). Among African Americans, 94 percent have negative views of him, as well as 89 percent of Hispanics. For Clinton, a majority of white voters -- 68 percent -- view her unfavorably.
The survey was conducted June 8-12, among a random sample of 1,000 adults nationwide. Most of the survey was conducted before the Orlando shooting massacre, however. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.