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Donald Trump Gallup Poll: How Can Someone So Unfavorable Be So Popular?

By Toni Matthews
Published on: 01:21 PST, Feb 1, 2016

To hear Trump stumpers tell it, Donald is the clear and dominant choice for president. However, Gallup is suggesting the exact opposite. According to the popular polling service, Donald Trump is viewed unfavorably by three out of every five people asked about the Republican candidate.

That 60 percent of those asked view Trump unfavorably might not be surprising given his recent controversies. However, the Washington Post points out why this poll result is so remarkable.

“[Donald Trump’s unfavorability is] the highest among the Republicans and the highest of any candidate in the race at this point.

“It’s so high, in fact, that Gallup’s Frank Newport wanted to see how it compared to the peak unfavorable ratings earned by every candidate back to 1992, when Gallup began tracking the data as it does now.”

What Gallup determined is that Donald Trump is the most unfavorable candidate within the past 25 years of American history. Democrat or Republican, no person running for the office of president has managed to be viewed so unfavorably.

How is it that Donald Trump is considered a front-runner despite being viewed so negatively? Well, the same could be asked of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. She was edged out by Trump, earning a rating of 52 percent. Like Donald, Hillary is also considered a front-runner.

Perhaps this Gallup poll opinion asks the wrong question: There’s no indication that Gallup asked whether an unfavorable opinion would cost a candidate like Donald Trump their vote. It is possible to dislike a candidate as a person and still feel that their political views are most agreeable with your own. That could explain why Donald Trump seems to have such a large section of the Republican voter base.

And yet, since persons polled likely ranged across the entire political spectrum, it could mean that the majority of his unfavorability comes from non-GOP voters. If so, this may have no impact on his ability to win the Republican nomination.

The real test of the validity of this latest Gallup poll would be late in the primaries. If enough Republicans who view Donald Trump unfavorably also vote for him, it could push him towards the party’s nomination. However, should he win the nomination, the general election is where a high unfavorability rating might be a problem.

Assuming that the majority of those surveyed who have a negative opinion of Trump while not being Republican voters, there’s a good chance he will have trouble garnering support from that number. It would likely depend on who he’d be up against in the general election.

Gallup found that Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders each had a lower unfavorability rating than Donald Trump. However, Sanders’ number was far lower than both candidates at around 31 percent.

It’s possible that Trump can draw the conservative Democratic vote away from Hillary and especially away from the far-left Sanders. Yet, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that outside of his base and the large bubble of support is an even greater bubble, one filled with Americans far too embarrassed by the notion of a Donald Trump type in office. This, more so than the recent Gallup poll, might prove to be Donald Trump’s undoing.

Donald Trump has said many hateful things about various voting blocks. His antics are good for attention but not necessarily for allowing America to be taken seriously by other countries. It’s possible that, interestingly enough, voting for Trump just might not prove palatable for a host of reasons that have nothing to do with whether or not he’s viewed favorably or unfavorably.

What do you think of the recent Gallup poll about Donald Trump? Can an unfavorable rating keep a candidate from becoming president? Share your opinion below!

[Photo by Michael Snyder/AP]

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