Pummeling Each Other Daily Has Consequences

This election year is historic in a lot of ways but completely unprecedented in one — the extremely high unfavorable numbers of the candidates on both sides of the aisle.

There are a lot of factors that go into determining unfavorables, but a big part of it could be that the candidates aren’t holding back any punches — each hoping to land a knockout blow on the other. Ultimately, this could mean that the nominee for each party will be disliked by the majority of Americans.

No surprise, they are. A recently released Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that Donald Trump has the highest unfavorables of any candidate among all Americans with 67 percent. Sen. Ted Cruz follows with 53 percent and Kasich the most palatable with 39 percent.

One could deduce that Kasich’s unfavorables are the lowest because he has been largely left out of the GOP vitriol and personal attacks that Cruz and Trump have waged upon one another.

Trump has consistently referred to Cruz as “Lyin’ Ted” and has repeatedly said the Texas senator is using “dirty tricks” and trying to steal the election. Cruz has landed a few punches as well, calling Trump a “sniveling coward” after retweeting an unflattering photo of his wife comparing her to a glamorously photoshopped Melania Trump. He has also gone after Trump’s campaign, saying “they’re acting like union boss thugs” when it comes to reports of delegates being threatened.

The race looks much different when considering only Republican voters. Cruz has the highest favorables, with 58 percent to Trump’s 56 percent, while Kasich trails among voters in his party with 47 percent. The numbers clearly indicate that while Kasich is more popular among all Americans, he is not so popular among Republicans — pointing to his more moderate stance on the issues.

[lz_table title=”GOP Candidate Favorables” source=”Washington Post/ABC News”]Unfavorables among Public
Donald Trump,67%
Ted Cruz,53%
John Kasich,39%
|Favorability Among Public
Donald Trump,31%
Ted Cruz,36%
John Kasich,39%
|Favorability Among GOP Voters
Donald Trump,56%
Ted Cruz,58%
John Kasich,47%
|Unfavorables Among GOP Voters
Donald Trump,42%
Ted Cruz,38%
John Kasich,40%
[/lz_table]

The real kicker is the self-proclaimed cocialist from Vermont is the most likable candidate among all Americans. A new Associated Press/GfK survey released on Tuesday shows Bernie Sanders with 48 percent favorability — the highest of any presidential candidate in either party.

In the Democratic race, the numbers are similar to those of the Republicans — the front-runner has extremely high unfavorables with a majority of the electorate. Clinton’s unfavorables among Americans sits at 55 percent to Sanders 39 percent — tied with Kasich.

[lz_table title=”Democratic Candidate Favorables” source=”Associated Press/GfK”]Bernie Sanders
Unfavorable,39%
Favorable,48%
|Hillary Clinton
Unfavorable,55%
Favorable,40%
[/lz_table]

What’s more, Clinton’s poll numbers are terrible when it comes to honesty and trustworthiness. Many voters have a negative opinion of her according to polling from various outlets. The most recent one conducted in March, a Washington Post/ABC News poll, showed 57 percent of people think that Clinton is either of those.

[lz_bulleted_list title=”Is Hillary Clinton Trustworthy?” source=”Washington Post/ABC News”]57 percent of people think that Clinton is dishonest and untrustworthy|37 percent of people think that Clinton is honest and trustworthy[/lz_bulleted_list]

In Clinton’s case, her trustworthiness has been called into question by Republicans regarding her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state. Although recently Sanders has landed a few punches of his own, saying that she lacks judgment and questioned her qualifications. “I have my doubts about what kind of president she would make,” Sanders said this week. “She may have the experience to be president of the United States. No one can argue that. But in terms of judgment, something is clearly lacking.”

With both political parties having yet cleared their respective primaries, the nominees will go into the general election completely embattled, having suffered major blows by members of their own party.