An Unlikeable Group of Presidential Candidates

Rick Klein: “That’s among the takeaways of the new ABC News/Washington Post poll, which features Hillary Clinton and nearly all of her major Republican challengers viewed more unfavorably than favorably. (Marco Rubio, at 31-31, is the only top contender not underwater; Donald Trump has an unfavorable rating of 71 percent, the highest among the names polled.) Those are tough numbers to face for any candidate, and the poll indicates damage from the campaign thus far. Clinton, for instance, faces strong disapproval for her handling of her email and stories of her personal wealth.”

“But more remarkable about the crop of numbers is how early these perceptions have been set, and how widely they are held. This is before candidates and their allies spending hundreds of millions of dollars to trash each other on television for a year. It’s a useful lesson for the would-be presidents: voters might tolerate you, but they’re not in general inclined to actually like you.”