Latest update : 2016-05-05
It’s the paradox of the 2016 US presidential
elections: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are virtually assured of
facing off against each other in November, and yet both are widely
unpopular.
Two thirds (65 percent) of voters have unfavorable opinions of the Republican billionaire, and only a quarter (24 percent) think positively of him, according to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC survey.
In Clinton’s case, 56 percent are down on her, while only 32 percent see her in a favorable light, the same poll found.
A CNN poll this week put their unpopularity at 56 percent and 49 percent respectively.
“Historically, we haven’t seen this kind of thing before,” said Jeanne
Zaino, a political scientist at Iona College. “It would be one thing if
you had one, but this is... the two frontrunners.”
Trump, 69, an unpredictable political outsider who has never held
elected office, has antagonized substantial portions of the electorate
with his insults against women, Mexicans and Muslims.
The very experienced and circumspect Clinton, meanwhile, has
struggled to win over many voters who have trouble relating to the
68-year-old White House aspirant.
How in the world did these two become their party’s presumptive nominees?
“It has to do with the way we select candidates,” said Columbia University professor Robert Shapiro.
In 2012, only about 16 percent of Americans eligible to vote participated in party primaries.
“Those who vote in primaries and caucuses are more often activists
and extremists within the party. The average American barely votes,”
Shapiro said.
With 17 candidates in the race for the Republican nomination, Trump
only needed “a very small segment of the American electorate” to become
his party’s standard bearer, he added.
Strong opinions
Hillary Clinton profited from the fact that she had little
competition, except from Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who
continues to nip at her heels.
“Other capable Democrat candidates decided not to run, because this
is a bad year for Democrats to run for president,” said Shapiro,
alluding to the difficulty of getting elected to succeed a two-term
president from the same party.
Trump and Clinton also suffer from the fact that they are so well known, said Zaino.
“These are two people who have been around a long time, so people
have very strong opinions about them on both sides of the aisle,” she
said.
Americans know all about them—their strengths, their weaknesses, the trajectory of their lives.
Clinton, who has long dreamt of being the first woman president of
the United States, has been in the public eye for more than 20 years:
she was first lady during Bill Clinton’s 1993-2001 presidency, senator
from New York from 2001 to 2009, and secretary of state from 2009 to
2013.
Trump has been a celebrity even longer, famed for his wealth, his
skyscrapers, his two divorces and a hit reality TV show, “The
Apprentice,” which he hosted for more than 10 years.
“A lot of Democrats feel like the Democratic party has become the
party of the Clintons and a lot of people are not happy with that,” said
Sam Abrams, an expert at Sarah Lawrence College.
“For many of my students, they have never known an era when a Clinton
or a Bush was not president or dominating national politics,” he said.
Something else
Which explains the yearning for something else, particularly among
young voters who prefer the 74-year-old Sanders to Clinton by a wide
margin.
And while three quarters of Americans say they are unhappy with their
political leaders, the White House frontrunners have been battered by
their rivals and the bitterness of the campaign itself.
Before calling it quits Tuesday evening, Republican candidate Ted
Cruz went so far as to accuse Trump of being a “serial philanderer,” a
“pathological liar,” and a “narcissist.”
Sanders, meanwhile, continues to denounce Clinton’s ties to Wall
Street and the hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees that
she has received from big banks and corporations.
The battle between Clinton and Trump is certain to be at least as brutal.
But on election day, all this will count for little.
That is because Americans will vote, first and foremost against the
other side: 51 percent of Democrats who intend to vote for Clinton say
they will do it to stop Trump, and only 48 percent to support her
candidacy.
And 57 percent of Republicans would vote for Trump to oppose Clinton,
and only 43 percent because they want the billionaire to win, according
to the CNN poll.
(AFP)
