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White House Watch
White House Watch: Trump 44%, Clinton 39%, Johnson 8%, Stein 2%
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Thursday, September 22, 2016
With the first presidential debate coming on Monday, Donald Trump has moved to a five-point lead over Hillary Clinton, his biggest advantage since mid-July.
The latest Rasmussen Reports weekly White House Watch telephone and online survey finds Trump with 44% support among Likely U.S. Voters to Clinton’s 39%. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson earns eight percent (8%) of the vote, while Green Party nominee Jill Stein holds steady at two percent (2%). Three percent (3%) like some other candidate, and five percent (5%) are still undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Last week, the Republican nominee edged ahead of his Democratic rival 42% to 40% after trailing her by four points the week before. Trump’s total this week ties his highest ever level of support from two months ago.
Trump (76%) and Clinton (75%) earn comparable support from voters in their own party. Fourteen percent (14%) of Democrats prefer Trump, while 10% of Republicans join former President George H.W. Bush in supporting Clinton. But Trump has a commanding 45% to 27% lead this week among voters not affiliated with either major political party.
Johnson picks up 16% of unaffiliateds, along with five percent (5%) of GOP voters and three percent (3%) of Democrats. Stein is stuck in low single digits among all three groups.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on September 20-21, 2016 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
[Rasmussen Reports analysts Amy Holmes and Fran Coombs are available for interested media. Please call 732-776-9777 ext. 205 for interviews.]
Even before the latest Islamic terror attacks this past weekend, Americans were skeptical of the government’s ability to prevent future domestic terror attacks. Voters think Trump would do a better job than Clinton protecting the country from terrorists.
Trump holds a double-digit advantage among men, while Clinton leads by just four among women. The Democrat continues to lead among those under 40 but trails among older voters.
Clinton still holds a sizable lead among blacks and remains ahead among other minority voters. Trump leads among whites.
President Obama filled in for Clinton on the campaign trail when she was temporarily sidelined last week with pneumonia. Among voters who Strongly Approve of the job the president is doing, 87% support Clinton. An identical 87% of those who Strongly Disapprove of Obama’s job performance prefer Trump.
Most voters oppose Obama’s plan to bring more Middle Eastern and African refugees to this country next year and view that decision as an increased danger to U.S. national security. Clinton supports the president’s policy.
Voters, on the other hand, strongly support Trump’s plan for temporarily restricting immigration from countries with a history of terrorism and for testing to screen out newcomers who don’t share America’s values.
Clinton and Trump have both proposed taxpayer-paid maternity leave for women whose employers don’t pay them for their time off, and most voters like the idea. But do they prefer Clinton’s 12-week plan or Trump’s six-week proposal?
Trump also has taken a small lead over Clinton in the hotly contested state of Nevada.
Suppose the unthinkable took place, and Clinton was forced for health reasons to step down as the Democratic presidential nominee. Who do Democrats think should take her place? |
