Editor’s Note: This is another in a series of reports on the polling by Clout Research, a national opinion research firm in Columbus, Ohio, for WND.com.
There’s good news in a new poll for Democrat presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton – she was cited by 22.1 percent of the respondents as the most appealing candidate on a personal level.
The bad news was that nearly twice as many – 43.1 percent – cited her as the least appealing presidential candidate on a personal level.
The results are from a new WND/Clout poll by Clout Research, a national opinion research firm in Columbus, Ohio. The telephone survey of registered voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.15 percentage points.
Clout Research chief Fritz Wenzel explained the questions, and results:
“For many voters, presidential preference comes down to that hard-to-define quality known as ‘likeability,’ and our survey shows voters have very definite ideas about a couple of candidates, but not much to say about most of them,” he said.
“Clout Research asked respondents to rate the most personally appealing and least appealing candidates, without regard to whom they would support in the election. We compiled an index based on these questions and found that the most likeable candidate was, by far, Ben Carson. While 18.4 percent said he was the most appealing, just 7.9 percent said he was least appealing, giving him a positive index of 10.5 percent.
“Least appealing, by a wide margin, was Democrat Hillary Clinton, who was found most appealing by 22.1 percent and least appealing by 43.1 percent, giving her an index of -21.1 percent,” he said. “As you might imagine, her positives came mostly from Democrats and her negatives came mostly from Republicans.
“This finding is amusing, but important, as Clinton faces danger in that only 45 percent of Democrats cited her as the most appealing candidate, while 68 percent of Republicans and 42 percent of independents cited her as least appealing,” Wenzel said.
“With independent voters, she holds a -22 percent index – a very troubling sign. But even with Democrats, her rating is only +27.9 [percent]. Given she is better known to the American public than any other figure, that should be alarming for her campaign. The problem for her is that because she holds such a firm position in the minds of Americans, it will be very hard and very expensive to try to change voter perceptions of her.
The poll results may reflect the party affiliations, as Clinton and Sanders were the only two Democrats cited, while the GOP field is much larger, and the numbers reflected a wide diversity.
“When a campaign cannot move voters to favor their own candidate, the only tool left in the bag is to try absolute destruction of the opponent, so look for 2016 to be the nastiest campaign in modern history.”
Wenzel warned, “One factor to watch is what happens to younger, idealistic voters who typically vote only in presidential elections because all of the fanfare surrounding such elections. Should the election develop as a very nasty fight, look for those voters to stay home in droves – a situation which would actually harm Clinton and congressional Democrats in a general election.”
Here’s the candidates’ favorability ranking:
For the most appealing, following Hillary Clinton’s 22.1 percent was Ben Carson’s 18.4 percent, Donald Trump’s 16.6 percent and Bernie Sanders’ 8.8 percent. Carly Fiorina was at 1.9 percent, Mike Huckabee at 2.2 percent and Rand Paul at 2.3 percent.
Clinton was head and shoulders above the field in the least appealing race.
Second was Jeb Bush at 17.5 percent and third was Trump with 13.3 percent.
Regarding who respondents expect to be elected, 32.8 percent picked Clinton and 5.8 percent picked Sanders. The GOP divvied up the remainder, with Trump getting 22.8 percent, Marco Rubio 10.4 percent and Carson 9.7 percent.
Turning whimsical, the poll asked who would respondents want to help them “solve a serious problem in your life.”
Clinton was picked 25 percent of the time, Carson 20.5 percent and Trump 15.7 percent.
And “which candidate do you think would be most likely to loan you $5,000 to help pay a medical bill?”
Clinton got 21.8 percent, Trump 21.4 percent, Carson 18.1 percent, Sanders 10.8 percent and Huckabee 6.9 percent.
Clinton was head and shoulders the pick that respondents expect would cut them off in traffic, with 37.2 percent. Trump trailed with 19.1 percent, Chris Christie was at 12.8 percent and Bush at 11.9 percent.
For help solving a smart phone problem? Respondents picked Clinton 20.4 percent, Fiorina 15.9 percent, Trump 11.5 percent, Carson 11.2 percent and Rubio 11 percent.
How about someone trustworthy enough to raise children or grandchildren?
Clinton, who’s talked about how it takes a village, was picked 22.7 percent of the time. Carson was at 20.3 percent, Bush at 10 percent and Huckabee 9.3 percent.
Learning lessons about God? Twenty-two percent plus said Carson, 21.5 percent said Huckabee and Clinton trailed in third at 15.2 percent.
See the results:
Question 20: Which presidential candidate do you find least appealing?
Question 22: Which candidate would you want to help you solve a serious problem in your life?
Question 24: Which candidate do you think is most likely to cut you off in traffic?
Question 27: Which candidate do you believe could teach you the most important lessons about God?
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