Thirty-one percent of Americans have a favorable view of Trump while 67 percent are unfavorable — nearly identical to an early March Post-ABC poll which found he would be the most disliked major-party nominee since at least 1984. Over half the public (53 percent) continues to see Trump in a “strongly unfavorable” light, ticking down from 56 percent last month.
Cruz fares better with 36 percent favorable and 53 percent unfavorable among the public at-large; his strongly unfavorable mark is 20 percentage-points below Trump’s level (33 percent for Cruz vs. 53 percent for Trump). Kasich receives an even split on this basic measure of popularity — 39 favorable and 39 percent unfavorable, while over one-fifth report no opinion of him (22 percent).
Trump and Cruz are both less popular than Mitt Romney at this point in the 2012 campaign, a year in which the eventual Republican nominee was haunted by weak personal ratings. In mid-April 2012, 40 percent had a favorable view of Romney while 48 percent were unfavorable. Romney trailed President Obama on this measure, one factor in Obama’s re-election despite his own mediocre job ratings.
The results portend a general election where both parties’ presidential nominees are disliked by most Americans.
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