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Why Is Donald Trump Losing To Hillary Clinton In Virtually Every National Poll?

Published on: April 1, 2016 at 5:57 AM
By Val Powell

Donald Trump may be winning the primaries against his rivals in the party, but recent polls show that, even if he wins the nomination, he might just lose against Hillary Clinton in the general elections.

Trump, 69, has consistently asserted that he is winning in the general polls against his Democratic counterpart, but actual polls this month state otherwise. HuffPost Pollster tracked 33 general election polls across the country, and only once did the billionaire beat the former Secretary of State.

According to Pollster , the TV personality trails Clinton by nine points, while RealClearPolitics claims that he trails by two more points. In case Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won the nomination, Trump would find himself in an even bigger hole.

So what’s the big deal about this?

According to Christopher Wlezien, a political science professor, and author Robert Erikson, polls tend to show the actual results of the general elections as the campaign progresses.

“A meaningful portion of changes in preferences during this period tend to stand the test of time and impact the election result,” the two wrote in their book, The Timeline of Presidential Elections .

Wlezien and Erikson argue that, during the first months of the campaign period, most poll responses do not stick because people are just being introduced to the candidates. However, as the end of the campaigns approaches, people also get closer to a decision on who will get their vote.

Aside from general election polls, Donald Trump is also reportedly slipping in Wisconsin, where the next primaries will be held on April 5.

In one report, the reason for Trump’s slow decline involves problems, controversies, and other concerns that are being used by his rivals to ruin his seemingly unstoppable momentum. Another angle that is slowly becoming a crucial factor is the support that Texas Senator Ted Cruz has been getting.

Cruz, 45, has not stopped wooing the supporters of other Republican candidates that have dropped out of the race. Now that voters are seeing more of Trump’s flaws, they are starting to shift to Cruz in order to get a fighting chance against Hillary Clinton.

Also, the entire Republican Party establishment has been battling Trump’s nomination, and reports say that if the frontrunner fails to get the required number of delegates, the GOP will vote for another nominee in a brokered convention.

Problems are indeed piling up against Donald Trump. Just this week, Jupiter police in Florida filed charges against his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, for manhandling and assaulting a female reporter, Michelle Fields.

But instead of firing Lewandowski, apologizing to Fields, and moving on with his campaign, Trump did not do anything. Even after the police provided video footage of what happened, the Republican candidate denied the allegations against his campaign manager. He defended his manager, saying the reporter might have presented a threat to him.

“She had a pen in her hand which the Secret Service is not liking because they don’t know what it is, whether it’s a little bomb,” he said in an interview with CNN.

This week, Donald Trump also made what some say was an insensitive statement involving women. During a town hall meeting in Wisconsin, he stated that women who are seeking an abortion should receive “some form of punishment.”

Afterward, the candidate recanted what he said in a written note. Instead of placing the blame on women, he shifted the responsibility to the person performing the hypothetically illegal act.

Donald Trump is still the GOP frontrunner and may very well win the GOP nomination, but the momentum he had earlier in his campaign appears to have slowed down. Maybe Trump has given voters a few too many reasons not to like him as much as they used to.

[Image by Ethan Miller, Getty Images]

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