News / Politics

Clinton leads Trump by 9 percent in new national poll

Friday, 08 July 2016 2:03 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 08 July 2016 2:07 AM ]

This combination photo shows US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. (AFP)

A new opinion poll shows that US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has taken a lead over her Republican rival, Donald Trump, amid nationwide dissatisfaction with both candidates.

According to the survey released by the Pew Research Center on Thursday, the former secretary of state is ahead with a 9 percentage-point lead over the New York businessman, making the two-way contest results stand at 51 percent to 42 percent.

Clinton continues to lead Trump, 45 percent to 36 percent, in a three-way contest which includes Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson drawing 11 percent of the votes.

The Washington DC-based research center said that less than half of US voters in either party, accounting for 43 percent of Democrats and 40 percent of Republicans, say they are satisfied with their presidential choices.

It added that Republican voters are less satisfied with Trump than they were with presidential nominees John McCain in 2008, with 47 percent, and Mitt Romney in 2012, with 52 percent.

Meanwhile, satisfaction among Democrats is dramatically low, from 64 percent in 2012 for President Barack Obama to 43 percent now.

The Pew survey consisted of 2,245 adults including 1,655 registered voters and was carried out from June 15 to 26.

The two rivals are to be officially nominated at each party’s national convention later this month.

Gallup released a poll last week, revealing that Trump and Clinton are currently among the worst-rated presidential candidates of the last 70 years.

According to that poll, when Americans were asked what came to mind when they thought of Clinton, 27 percent said they did not trust her, 13 percent said they did not like her and eight percent said she was a “criminal” or “corrupt.”

Trump also evoked a variety of negative reactions about his personality. Sixteen percent said they disliked him, while 12 percent described him as an "idiot" or a "joke" and 10 percent as a "racist" or a "bigot."

Eight percent viewed him as "reckless" or "dangerous" and seven percent as someone who speaks without thinking.

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