Most US voters seek alternative candidate to Trump, Clinton: Poll
A new US poll shows that demand for an alternative candidate to the two main presidential nominees has surged since the last presidential election in 2012, underscoring the unpopularity of Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.
There is a strong potential for a third-party presidential candidate to take enough of the vote in the presidential election in November to influence its outcome, the Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll shows.
According to the July 1-8 poll, 21 percent of likely voters will not back Clinton or Trump.
In the 2012 US presidential election, just 13 percent of likely voters opted out of the two main choices: Incumbent President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
The survey also found that a majority of voters in the US have an "unfavorable" view of both main candidates, with 47 percent of Trump supporters and 46 percent of Clinton supporters saying their first priority when voting will be to stop the opposing candidate from becoming president.
“Demand for an alternative could be decisive in hotly contested battleground states,” the Reuters/Ipsos poll said. “In Florida in 2012, for instance, Obama won by less than 1 percentage point. If this year's race is just as tight, third-party candidates could draw enough support to flip the state from one major party to the other.”
However, most voters still do not know who the third-party candidates are, the poll found. Only 23 percent say they are "somewhat familiar" with Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, while 16 percent are familiar with Jill Stein of the Green Party.
According to Gallup poll released earlier this month, Trump and Clinton are currently among the worst-rated presidential candidates of the last 70 years.
When Americans are asked what comes to mind when they think of Clinton, 27 percent say they don't trust her, 13 percent say they don't like her and 8 percent say she is a “criminal” or “corrupt.”
The latest responses reflect that many Americans continue to see Clinton as dishonest and untrustworthy and dislike her in general.
Trump also evokes a variety of negative reactions about his personality. Sixteen percent say they dislike him, while 12 percent describe him as an "idiot" or a "joke" and 10 percent as a "racist" or a "bigot."
Eight percent view him as "reckless" or "dangerous" and 7 percent as someone who speaks without thinking.
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