REPUBLICAN Party presidential nominee Donald Trump shrugs his statements of groping women by their genitals, making sexual advances without their consent, and being able to do what he wants with women because of his “star” status, off as “locker room talk,” but many people aren’t buying it.
According to the latest national poll conducted by the conservative network Fox News, Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton has now widened her lead over Trump by eight points (49-41 percent) in the days following the revelation of Trump’s open-mic controversial statements and the second presidential debate (October 10-12). Clinton had a four-point edge a week ago (48-44 percent) from Oct. 3-6.
According to Fox News, the largest declines in support for Trump are among women ages 45 and over (down 12 points), voters ages 65+ (down 11), suburban women (down 10), white women with a college degree (down 7), GOP women (down 6), and white college graduates (down 6).
While the support for Trump among white Evangelical Christians held steady at 68 percent, this is lower than the typical three-quarters support the GOP Nominee got among white evangelicals in the past election cycles. Fox news further said Trump’s support among regular church-goers is now down by eight points, from 53 to 45 percent.
Ominous analysis from no less than Daron Shaw — the GOP pollster who conducted the Fox News poll — who said, “If the Republicans are not at rock-bottom, they can certainly see the bottom from where they are…If Trump got 90 percent of self-identified Republicans and nothing else — no Democrats and no independents — he’d be at 32 percent.”
The enthusiasm of the public about Trump has evaporated. According to Fox News, 70 percent of his backers “strongly” supported him last week. That’s now down to 63 percent. For Clinton, it’s 66 percent, up from 57 percent.
Moreover, the number of Republicans satisfied with Trump is now at 48 percent vs. 52 percent who said they are happy with him at the top of the ticket a month ago.
On the other hand, 54 percent of Democrats are happy with Clinton, while 38 percent still wish the nominee were Bernie Sanders.
MORE REVELATIONS from the Fox News Poll:
Clinton now tops Trump on every issue tested. More voters trust her to handle foreign policy (+24 points), health care (+13), terrorism (+11), immigration (+9), and the economy (+3). For the past month, Trump had been the choice on the economy, and the two were about evenly matched on terrorism.
Clinton is preferred to handle health care despite nearly half wanting to get rid of President Barack Obama’s signature law. Forty-nine percent of registered voters want to repeal Obamacare vs. 45 percent who prefer to keep it in place. That’s a more positive rating for the law than the last time the Fox News Poll asked in December 2014. Then it was 58 percent repeal and 38 percent keep.
Overall, 64 percent believe Clinton has the right temperament to serve effectively and 68 percent say she’s qualified to be president.
It’s the opposite for Trump, as 63 percent think he lacks the temperament and 56 percent say he isn’t qualified. For 49 percent, he is “not at all” qualified.
Are the candidates good role models for children? Voters say Clinton is (54 yes vs. 43 no). And Trump is not (20 yes vs. 77 no).
Thirty-three percent say Clinton is honest and trustworthy. For Trump, it’s 32 percent. That’s a four-point drop for him since last week.
Trump’s personal ratings also took a hit, while Clinton’s improved. More voters view her negatively than positively by five points (47 favorable vs. 52 unfavorable). Last week she was underwater by nine. Trump’s rating stands at negative 23 (38 favorable vs. 61 unfavorable). That’s eight points more negative today, as he was underwater by 15 a week ago.
Among Republicans, his favorable rating dropped 11 points, from 84 percent to 73 percent.
It is ominous still for Trump because the Fox News poll shows a growing number expect another President Clinton. Sixty-five percent think she’ll win in November. That’s 10 points higher than last week (55 percent) — and 19 higher than June (46 percent). Some 23 percent think Trump will win.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
