Today in Campaign 2016
Here are some highlights from the campaign trail today:
- In a Washington Post interview, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump indicated that he is tentatively exploring one of the most infamous conspiracy theories about Bill Clinton’s presidency as he readies his general election battle plan against Hillary Clinton. In the interview, Trump called theories that the Clintons were behind the 1993 death of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster “very serious,” calling the circumstances of his suicide “very fishy.” “He had intimate knowledge of what was going on,” Trump said. “He knew everything that was going on and then all of a sudden he committed suicide.”
- A week after her Bernie Sanders said that he was willing to participate in the first Democratic presidential debate on Fox News in 12 years, Clinton counted herself out. “We have declined Fox News’ invitation to participate in a debate in California,” said Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri. “We believe that Hillary Clinton’s time is best spent campaigning and meeting directly with voters across California and preparing for a general election campaign that will ensure the White House remains in Democratic hands.”
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Terry McAuliffe, governor of Virginia and frequently named member of Hillary Clinton’s potential vice presidential shortlist, has been under investigation by the FBI for potential campaign donation violations, CNN reports. The investigation, which has been under way for at least a year, is in regard to donations to McAuliffe’s most recent gubernatorial campaign, which federal investigator say may have violated legal restrictions regarding donations from foreign nationals.
- The Democratic party has awarded the Sanders campaign’s unusual influence over the party platform in the form of significant appointments to the committee that drafts the platform. Sanders’ say over the party platform results from a three-way deal among the Sanders camp, the Clinton camp and the DNC. Under the deal, Sanders gets to appoint five members of the 15-member platform committee while Clinton gets six picks. DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz will name the other four members.
Updated
Facebook has denied allegations that the team responsible for its trending topics section deliberately suppressed conservative views – but says it will improve the feature.
Allegations have been made anonymously that the team responsible for choosing trending topics did so with little oversight and deliberately suppressed conservative views.
On Monday, Facebook denied any bias in a press release and a letter sent directly to John Thune, the chairman of the US Senate commerce committee.
Colin Stretch, general counsel at Facebook, said the company met with Thune on 18 May to discuss an internal two-week investigation, which had found “virtually identical” rates of approval of conservative and liberal topics.
“Suppressing political content or preventing people from seeing what matters most to them is directly contrary to our mission and our business objectives, and the allegations troubled us deeply.”
But Stretch said the investigation “could not fully exclude the possibility of isolated improper actions or unintentional bias” and Facebook would make changes to trending topics to prevent potential misuse and “to minimise risks where human judgment is involved”.
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham may be quietly urging Republican donors to start backing Donald Trump, but he has doubled down on his refusal to endorse the presumptive Republican nominee himself.
“If you want to give money to Mr. Trump that’s up to you,” Graham told reporters today, according to The Hill. “I’m urging you to give money to my House and Senate colleagues. I have not changed my position about the presidential race.”
“You vote the way you want to vote for president,” Graham continued. “I’ve decided to take a pass on that race.”
Graham’s reiteration of his refusal to endorse Trump comes after CNN reported this past weekend that a prominent Florida Republican fundraiser said that Graham told her “we need to get behind him.”
The head of security for the US Transportation Security Administration has been removed from his position, the US House of Representatives oversight committee said Monday on Twitter.
The House panel, which held a hearing 12 May on long lines at airport security checkpoints, did not give a reason for Kelly Hoggan’s dismissal as TSA assistant administrator for security operations.
UPDATE: Kelly Hoggan has been removed from his position as head of security at TSA, following our hearing on May 12 on mismanagement at TSA.
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) May 23, 2016
Members of the committee criticized the TSA for awarding more than $90,000 in bonuses and awards to Hoggan over a 13-month period.
This month, a video of an extremely long security line at Chicago’s Midway airport went viral, with travelers complaining of waits up to two hours. The week before, the TSA had warned that short staffing could lead to delays.
Moments before his on-air interview with Bill O’Reilly, a Washington Post interview with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump indicated that the real estate tycoon is tentatively exploring one of the most infamous conspiracy theories about Bill Clinton’s presidency as he readies his general election battle plan against Hillary Clinton.
In the interview, Trump called theories that the Clintons were behind the 1993 death of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster “very serious,” calling the circumstances of his suicide “very fishy.”
“He had intimate knowledge of what was going on,” Trump said. “He knew everything that was going on and then all of a sudden he committed suicide.”
Foster was found dead in a Virginia park on July 20, 1993, in a death that was ruled a suicide in investigations conducted by the United States Park Police, the Department of Justice, the FBI, Kenneth Starr and Congress. Conspiracy theories that Foster was actually murdered have been bandied about in the decades since, with no evidence ever surfacing.
“I don’t bring [Foster] up because I don’t know enough to really discuss it,” Trump said. “I will say there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder. I don’t do that because I don’t think it’s fair.”
Donald Trump appears on Bill O'Reilly
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump appeared on The O’Reilly Factor tonight, wherein he and titular host Bill O’Reilly discussed how the real estate tycoon “would defeat the jihad,” as O’Reilly put it.
O’Reilly pressed Trump repeatedly on whether he would have Congress “make a declaration of war” on terror groups like Isis, al-Qaida and the Taliban. “Wouldn’t bother me at all doing that - probably should have done that in the first place,” Trump said casually. “This is a war against people that are vicious violent people - that we have no idea who they are, where they come from.”
If such a declaration weren’t feasible, O’Reilly asked, would the candidate consider declaring any country that purchased oil from Isis was an enemy of the US? That way, O’Reilly explained, “we can drop a drone on ‘em.”
“It depends who it is and everything else,” Trump said, seemingly misunderstanding the question. “Maybe they send two barrels to England, maybe they send two barrels to Sweden...”
O’Reilly, attempting to clarify, explained that the US military is “not even hitting the people who are buying it on-site.”
“In that case, absolutely, 100%,” Trump responded.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders shruggingly said that the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this summer may be “messy.”
“So what? Democracy is messy.”
Sanders told the AP that “democracy is not always nice and quiet and gentle,” perhaps a preview of a bitter convention fight anticipated by the candidate, whose road to the nomination relies on a massive, unheard-of revolt among Democratic superdelegates.
Hillary Clinton declines to participate in Fox News debate
A week after her opponent said that he was willing to participate in the first Democratic presidential debate on Fox News in 12 years, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton counted herself out.
“We have declined Fox News’ invitation to participate in a debate in California,” said Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri in a statement. “As we have said previously, we plan to compete hard in the remaining primary states, particularly California, while turning our attention to the threat a Donald Trump presidency poses. We believe that Hillary Clinton’s time is best spent campaigning and meeting directly with voters across California and preparing for a general election campaign that will ensure the White House remains in Democratic hands.”
Update: Fox News vice president Bill Sammon has released a statement on Clinton’s declining of the network’s invitation to debate on the channel.
“Naturally, Fox News is disappointed that Secretary Clinton has declined our debate invitation, especially given that the race is still contested and she had previously agreed to a final debate before the California primary.”
Updated
North Korean officials are viewing Donald Trump’s proposed meeting with dictator Kim Jong-un skeptically, with the county’s UN ambassador in Geneva telling Reuters that the offer is “for utilization of the presidential election, that’s all. A kind of a propaganda or advertisement.”
“This is useless, just a gesture for the presidential election,” continued So Se Pyong. “There is no meaning, no sincerity.”
Trump, in a wide-ranging interview with Reuters in New York last week, said he is willing to talk to the North Korean leader to try to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear program, proposing a major shift in U.S. policy toward the isolated nation.
Last week, Trump told Reuters that he is willing to talk to Kim, a major potential shift in US policy.
“I would have no problem speaking to him,” Trump said.
Asked whether he would try to persuade the ruler to abandon his nation’s nuclear program, Trump said “Absolutely.”
Ben Carson, onetime presidential candidate and current competitor for the title of Worst Campaign Surrogate, told Fox Business Network today that he has no interest in a position within a potential Donald Trump administration.
“I would not want to be on the ticket or in the cabinet,” the retired neurosurgeon told host Trish Regan. “I personally feel that I can be considerably more effective as an outside voice - I was an outside voice before all this started.”
As for potential running mates that should be in consideration, Carson is not picky - as long as it’s not him.
“I want an American, somebody who loves America,” he said. “I don’t care if they’re a man, woman, black, white, Asian, whatever. If they fit that description, they’re great with me. We have gotten so much into this ‘identity politics’ thing.”
Carson was in hot water with the Trump campaign last week after accidentally letting slip to a Washington Post reporter that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist.
Hillary Clinton launched a no-holds-barred attack on her likely general election opponent, Donald Trump, in a speech laced with explicit warnings about the dangers of electing him to the presidency.
The former US secretary of state returned to Detroit this morning to address the Service Employees International Union’s international convention and ask its 2.1 million workers for help in defeating Trump.
“Trump economics is a recipe for lower wages, fewer jobs, more debt. He could bankrupt America like he has bankrupted his companies,” she told a crowd of roughly 3,000 members, all wearing their purple union shirts. The SEIU has endorsed Clinton for president.
She paused, smiled and threw a punch: “I mean, ask yourself, how can anybody lose money running a casino? Really?”
For the first time, polls suggest Trump may have edged just slightly ahead of Clinton, setting up a battle royal between two historically unlikable candidates.
Clinton’s fighting words in the Motor City envisage a general election battle in which Michigan and the Rust Belt states are very much unsettled. Trump demonstrated his strength with working-class white voters with a sweeping victory in the state in March, while Clinton narrowly lost to Sanders in one of the biggest upsets of the election, thanks in part to her vulnerabilities with the same bloc of voters.
In her speech, Clinton thanked her Democratic opponent, Bernie Sanders, for “challenging” the party to fight harder to get big money out of politics and reign in Wall Street. Sanders has vowed to continue his now-improbable quest for the nomination despite pressure from party leaders for him to drop out and help unite the party behind Clinton.
Last week, Clinton sharpened her attack on Trump when she called him “unqualified” for the presidency. On Monday, she told union members: “The only thing standing between Donald Trump and the Oval Office is all of us.” She added: “We need a president who will use the bully pulpit to stand up for working families. But the last thing we need is a bully in the pulpit.”
Clinton continued in that vein, pummeling her opponent for his economic vision and immigration policies, especially his plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. “What kind of country would we be if we let Donald Trump rip our families apart?” she asked. “We have to reject this wrong vision for America with a strong, clear voice.”
She directly appealed to America’s workforce for support, hinting at a growing trend of union members breaking ranks and supporting Trump. “Hear this, because you need to tell your friends,” Clinton said, as she reminded them that Trump once suggested wages are “too high”.
“Donald Trump actually stood on a debate stage and argued that Americans are being paid too much,” Clinton said.
A network of powerful union leaders, including SEIU’s president, Mary Kay Henry, have launched a concerted attack on the presumptive Republican nominee, painting him as a false prophet, someone who promises to bring back jobs but has no plans to achieve that.
Introducing Clinton, Henry pledged:“We are going to use every ounce of this union’s energy to ensure that she is the next president of the United States.”
Clinton in turn lauded the workers.
“I want to say something that you don’t hear enough: thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said. “You are often unsung heroes. And I want you to know this: your fights are my fights.”
Updated
Donald Trump might want to workshop any plans he has of bringing up Terry McAuliffe’s connections to Hillary Clinton.
With Terry McAuliffe, Gov of Virginia, at the Trump Winery in Charlottesville, VA--largest on East Coast. @GovernorVA pic.twitter.com/onCh3WxPWL
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2014
Meanwhile...
Terry McAuliffe was fundraising for Hillary Clinton yesterday - and accepted $25,000 from Donald Trump for his campaign seven years ago.
Virginia governor under federal investigation over campaign donations
Terry McAuliffe, governor of Virginia and frequently named member of Hillary Clinton’s potential vice presidential shortlist, has been under investigation by the FBI for potential campaign donation violations, CNN reports.
The investigation, which has been under way for at least a year, is in regard to donations to McAuliffe’s most recent gubernatorial campaign, which federal investigator say may have violated legal restrictions regarding donations from foreign nationals.
Thus far, McAuliffe has not been contacted by the FBI or any other law enforcement agency regarding the investigation.
“The governor will certainly cooperate with the government if he is contacted about it,” Marc Elias, a McAuliffe campaign attorney, told CNN.
Updated
The latest presidential polling average shows Republican candidate Donald Trump ahead by 0.2 percentage points, writes the Guardian’s Mona Chalabi. But this is not the first indication of a potential Trump win.
For the first time, Republican Donald Trump seems to have edged ahead of Democrat Hillary Clinton in presidential polling. But only just. What does it mean and should those opposed to Trump be worried?
The polling data site RealClearPolitics (RCP) takes an average of national polls that ask Americans who they would choose in a contest between the two candidates (a scenario that now looks inevitable). On Sunday, RCP updated their numbers to show that Trump is now, on average, 0.2 percentage points ahead of Clinton.
That gap might be narrow, but it has still led some (including a senior elections analyst at RCP) to conclude “it’s probably time to panic”. I’d disagree. For those concerned about the prospect of a Trump victory, it’s been time to panic for a while – zooming out from a single statistic shows it.
Delayed panic?
Although this might be the first time that Trump has come out on top in the RCP polling average, he has come very close to doing so on two prior occasions – in September and December of last year. Since September, Clinton’s lead has fluctuated significantly from being as large as 11 percentage points to as narrow as 0.6. In other words, there have been many other periods when Trump’s opponents should have been worrying before now.
Just as it took pundits a while to wake up to the fact that Trump was a sufficiently popular candidate to win the Republican nomination, it seems that they have also been slow to switch focus to his chances of winning the White House.
Part of the reason why they didn’t panic before was a belief that measuring American public opinion a long time before a national election is a bad predictor of voting patterns. Why? Because people change their minds. November is still six months away. The alternative view is that preferences may be becoming hardened now, making voter behavior less likely to shift.
Looking backward, rather than forward, results from the last six presidential elections suggest that 31 states are “safe” – based on the fact that the same party has consistently won them. Unsurprisingly, polling companies are investing their time and resources in states they think might “swing” and therefore determine electoral outcomes nationally – states like Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia. So far, polling suggests neither candidate has a significant lead in those states which could provide extra cause for concern for those worrying about a Trump win.
Updated
Senate minority leader Harry Reid is less than enthusiastic about likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton choosing Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren as her running mate, telling MSNBC that he would “yell and scream to stop that” from happening.
“If we have a Republican governor in any of those states, the answer is not only no, but hell no,” Reid said this afternoon. “I would do whatever I can, and I think most of my Democratic colleagues here would say the same thing.”
Democrats, currently in the minority in the Senate, are well-placed to regain control of the chamber this year: They’re defending only 10 seats, while Republicans are fighting to maintain 24 incumbents. With a historically unpopular Republican nominee at the top of the ticket, Reid has a fighting chance to win the five seats he needs to become majority leader.
But if one of his own is plucked from the Senate and is elected vice president, the sitting governor of that candidate’s state will select his or her replacement - in Warren’s case, Republican Charlie Baker - turning the five-seat requirement into a six-seat requirement.
Bernie Sanders' campaign to select one-third of platform committee
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders’ declaration that he would make push to make big changes in the Democratic platform at the party’s national convention this summer is bearing fruit, with the addition of five Sanders-selected members to the party’s platform-writing committee, including a high-profile activist on behalf of Palestinian rights.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has announced that Sanders will name five members to the 15-member committee that writes the party’s platform. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton will name six, and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz will name four.
Allowing Sanders to select one-third of the committee’s members - the DNC told the Washington Post that the breakdown between Sanders and Clinton’s number reflects their respective share of primary votes so far - gives the self-described democratic socialist more power in determining the party’s platform, the formal principles and beliefs of the Democratic party that will be unveiled at the convention in Philadelphia this July.
Sanders has picked author, academic and racial justice activist Cornel West, Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison, environmental activist Bill McKibben, Native American activist Deborah Parker and James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute and Palestinian advocate.
Clinton taunts Trump on casino failures
Hillary Clinton launched a no-holds-barred attack on her likely general election opponent, Donald Trump, in a speech laced with explicit warnings about the dangers of electing her rival to the presidency, writes the Guardian’s Lauren Gambino:
The former US secretary of state returned to Detroit on Monday to address the Service Employees International Union’s international convention and ask its 2.1 million workers for help defeating Trump.
“Trump economics is a recipe for lower wages, fewer jobs, more debt. He could bankrupt America like he has bankrupted his companies,” she told a crowd of roughly 3,000 members, all wearing their purple union shirts.
She paused, smiled and threw a punch: “I mean ask yourself how can anybody lose money running a casino? Really?”
Clinton continued in that vein, pummeling her opponent for his economic vision and immigration policies, especially his plan to deport an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants.
“What kind of country would we be if we let Donald Trump rip our families apart?” she asked. “We have to reject this wrong vision for America with a strong, clear voice.”
In her speech, Clinton thanked her Democratic opponent, Bernie Sanders, for “challenging” the party to fight harder to get big money out of politics and reign in Wall Street. Sanders has vowed to continue his now improbable quest for the nomination despite pressure from party leaders for him to drop out and help unite the party behind Clinton.
Throughout her speech, Clinton appealed to workers for their support. “The only thing standing between Donald Trump and the Oval Office is all of us.”
HRC: We need a president who will use the bully pulpit to stand up for working families but the last thing we need is a bully in the pulpit
— Lauren Gambino (@LGamGam) May 23, 2016
Updated
Bernie Sanders is scheduled to take the stage at a rally in Los Angeles at the top of the hour – here’s a live video stream:
One of the starkest signs that the antagonism between Bernie Sanders and the Democratic party is real is that Sanders is fundraising for the primary election opponent of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida’s 23rd congressional district, north of Miami.
And it’s working:
Campaign of Debbie Wasserman Schultz's primary opponent Tim Canova says it raised more than $225,000 from Sanders fundraising email.
— Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) May 23, 2016
“Well, clearly, I favor her opponent,” Sanders told CNN in an interview Sunday. “His views are much closer to mine than as to Wasserman Schultz’s.”
They’re remaking Indiana Jones without Harrison Ford, you can’t do that. And now they’re remaking Ghostbusters with only women. What’s going on?
– Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump
Trump seemed almost frightened, confused: "Now they're remaking Ghostbusters with only women! What's going on!?" pic.twitter.com/fcZk5Fs4cQ
— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) May 22, 2016
It appears Clinton will take the stage in Detroit shortly. Here’s a live video stream:
Clinton cash: there’s a lot of it – 12 or 13 times as much as Trump has on hand, reports Politico’s Ken Vogel. But that $30m held by the Clinton campaign represents only a fraction of one percent of Trump’s net worth, which he claims is $10bn. Unless he’s not really worth that much?
.@HillaryClinton entered May w/ a huge cash-on-hand lead over @BernieSanders & Trump, both of whom trailed @tedcruz. pic.twitter.com/6hbiDpr0zd
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) May 23, 2016
Hillary Clinton is expected to speak soon at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) convention in Detroit, Michigan. We’ll have a live video feed when the time comes.
HRC will knock Trump during SEIU speech in Detroit today, specifically "what a Trump presidency will mean for immigrant families," per aide
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) May 23, 2016
Later this afternoon, Bernie Sanders is to hold a rally in Los Angeles.
A new Donald Trump attack ad uses audio recordings of women accusing Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct to raise questions about Hillary Clinton.
As audio plays of Clinton accuser Juanita Broaddrick saying, “I tried to pull away from him,” the video fades from footage of the White House to a picture of Bill Clinton with a cigar in his mouth. The ad ends with a picture of the Clintons and the tagline, “Here we go again?” with audio of Hillary Clinton laughing.
Trump himself has faced accusations of sexual misconduct, from a contestant in one of his pageants saying he gave her an unwanted kiss on the lips to a business liaison saying he groped her under a table to his first wive, Ivana, saying in a deposition that he “raped” her – an accusation that was later retracted.
Ivana Trump was granted a divorce based on “cruel and inhuman treatment” by Trump.
Sanders strikes deal with Democrats over party platform committee
The Democratic party has awarded the Bernie Sanders campaign unusual influence over the party platform in the form of significant appointments to the committee that drafts the platform, the Washington Post reports.
Sanders’ say over the party platform results from a three-way deal among the Sanders camp, the Hillary Clinton camp and the Democratic national committee (DNC).
Under the deal, Sanders would get to appoint five members of the 15-member platform committee while Clinton would get six picks. DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will name the other four members.
Under party rules, the chair has the power to make all 15 appointments.
Caveat: If Bernie wins California, the bird who landed on his lectern that one time will chair the DNC rules committee.
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 23, 2016
Updated
Barack Obama is in Vietnam today, on a tour to strengthen trade ties and check China’s regional assertiveness.
Also in Vietnam today is Anthony Bourdain, the celebrity chef and host of Parts Unknown, the CNN travel and food show.
The two got together for a meal in Hanoi, and, it appears, beers. Who can identify that bottle?
Updated
Independents want Trump to release tax returns – poll
Donald Trump made a strong showing among independent voters in the Post / ABC poll we’ve been discussing, winning them from Clinton by almost 13 points. But there’s a potential catch: six in 10 of independent voters polled said they believe Trump should release his tax returns, “and almost all of them say they feel strongly about it,” the Post reports:
Even 44 percent of Republicans want the billionaire businessman to release his returns before the November election, though they are less passionate.
Trump has sent mixed signals about whether he plans to release his tax returns, saying that he can’t because he’s under audit, saying he would not until November at the earliest, saying he would at some point, saying the returns weren’t the public’s business.
Could outrage among independents over Trump’s unwillingness to reveal a detail as basic as his effective tax rate hurt him in the fall? Or pressure him to make a disclosure (is it the only one) he feels very uncomfortable with?
The Guardian’s Angelina Chapin explores the phenomenon of millennial women who are weary of Hillary Clinton – and the pushback they encounter from other women:
Anoa Changa is a feminist who isn’t going to vote for Hillary Clinton. Last June, when the 34-year-old Atlanta-based attorney began volunteering with the grassroots organization Women for Bernie Sanders, she received immediate pushback from other women. Over social media, they accused her and other Sanders volunteers of betraying their gender, and of being fake feminists. Even former professors and friends questioned how she could support the Vermont senator over the secretary of state.
Some women I encounter act as if I’ve betrayed some kind of secret society,” says Changa. “I reject this brand of feminism. I’m not only voting for my gender, I’m voting for other issues.”
For the first time in its history, America is close to electing a female president, yet many women from across the political spectrum don’t like Clinton.
Read the full piece here:
Donald Trump: fair-weather climate change denier
For the purposes of this election, Donald Trump is deeply skeptical of climate change caused by human activity – “this very expensive GLOBAL WARMING bullshit”, as he has put it on Twitter.
For the purposes of his bottom line, however, Trump is a climate change convert, having explicitly cited global warming in an application to build a coastal barrier to save one of his golf courses, in Ireland.
Politico has the story:
A permit application for the wall, filed by Trump International Golf Links Ireland and reviewed by POLITICO, explicitly cites global warming and its consequences — increased erosion due to rising sea levels and extreme weather this century — as a chief justification for building the structure.
The Trump camp did not reply to a request for comment. Days before Trump bought the property in 2014, “a single storm eroded as much as eight meters of frontage in some parts of the golf course,” Politico reports. Read the full piece here.
Hello and welcome to our live-wire politics coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. On Sunday the Washington Post and ABC News published a poll showing a neck-and-neck general election race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, with both candidates suffering from terrible favorability. Trump led Clinton 46-44 nationally among registered voters in the poll, which had a margin of error of +/- 3.5 points. The poll was roughly in line with polling averages calculated by RealClearPolitics and HuffPost Pollster.
Because presidents are elected via the electoral college and not by referendum, national polls do not provide a full picture of the state of the race. But the deep unpopularity of both Clinton and Trump described in the Post/ABC poll has emerged as a defining feature of the contest. Clinton’s favorability rating among registered voters was negative 16, while Trump’s was negative 17. (Trump has been improving in this category.) Those numbers are epically bad, all-time bad – the worst in the long history of the poll.
Trump’s rise could be hampered by the continued skepticism about his candidacy among Republicans and a organizing deficit in key states. A senior aide to Ohio governor John Kasich joshed that other aides “would be shot” if they went to work for Trump in the state, the Wall Street Journal reported, and the Republican National Committee has so far contributed significantly fewer ground troops than promised.
"Plus, they would be shot." https://t.co/0XrvHQKv8W pic.twitter.com/hXnnVOU5X8
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) May 23, 2016
Faring slightly better in the poll was Bernie Sanders, who registered a net positive favorability rating of eight points. Voters actually like Sanders, without having handed him victory over Clinton. Sanders on Sunday condemned the “anointment” of Clinton as the Democratic nominee:
Feel the need for something to lighten your mood? The Saturday Night Live appearance of Larry David as Sanders and Kate McKinnon as Clinton, drinking past last call, was pretty good:
