Trump-Harris favorability among lowest for US presidential elections in 68 years: Gallup poll

Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican nominee former President Donald Trump are among the most unpopular presidential contestants in nearly seven decades, according to a Gallup poll.

Trump has the favourability rating of 50 per cent and Harris has the rating of 48 per cent, according to the poll.

Trump’s rating is similar to the 2020 election but better than in the 2016 election when he was favoured by only 36 per cent voters, which was a historic low.

The findings are based on a survey conducted during October 1-12 in which people were asked to rate Trump and Harris on a scale ranging from +5 to -5.

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The survey found that this is the first time that Trump’s rating has not been below 50 per cent — suggesting that he is not just placed better than Harris but has improved his perception among Americans over the past eight years.

Harris’ ratings are so bad that only Trump in 2016 and 2020, Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Barry Goldwater in 1964 have worse ratings than her. All of these three lost their elections except for Trump in 2016.

Gallup Senior Writer Jeffrey M. Jones noted that most presidential candidates have had positive ratings of 60 per cent or higher, which includes several losing candidates as well.

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In this context, the poor ratings of Trump and Harris show the lack of trust that Americans have in the leadership across parties and the direction the country is headed towards. This is a trend that has taken shape in recent years. Jones noted that among the 12 presidential nominees since 2004, only Barack Obama (2008 and 2012), McCain (2008) and George W Bush (2004) reached the 60 per cent positive mark.

Overall, 31 per cent have a highly favourable opinion of Trump (a rating of +4 or +5), while 37 per cent have a highly unfavourable opinion of him (a rating of -4 or -5) compared Harris’ 30 per cent highly positive opinion and 34 per cent highly negative one.