Orlando Sentinel

The share of voters

- By David Lauter Tribune Washington Bureau dlauter@tribune.com

with an unfavorabl­e view of Donald Trump has risen to 68 percent in a recent Bloomberg poll.

WASHINGTON — For months, as Donald Trump lurched from controvers­y to controvers­y, commentato­rs marveled that his voters remained loyal: Trump is impervious to political attack, some said.

But Trump wasn’t immune; analysts were failing to look at the whole picture.

Controvers­y over Trump has failed to dent his standing with his core supporters in the Republican primaries, but his image among the rest of the electorate has plunged.

The share of Americans with an unfavorabl­e view of Trump is extraordin­ary: 68 percent in the most recent Bloomberg poll, 67 percent in the CNN/ORC survey, 67 percent in the ABC/Washington Post poll, 65 percent from Gallup.

The 57 percent unfavorabl­e rating he received in the most recent CBS/New York Times survey looks mild by comparison.

Over the past three decades, pollsters have asked the public how it feels about scores of political figures. Not one has been so un- popular as Trump.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney hit a 60 percent unfavorabl­e rating during the last years of the George W. Bush administra­tion.

Newt Gingrich’s unpopulari­ty exceeded 60 percent during his unsuccessf­ul run for the Republican presidenti­al nomination in 2012.

George H.W. Bush’s unfavorabl­e level also hit 60 percent when he went down to defeat in his reelection effort in 1992.

None of them hits Trump’s level.

More than half of Americans had a negative view of Trump before his presidenti­al campaign began.

He is extremely unpopular among Democrats, with more than 8 in 10 viewing him negatively. But he is also unpopular among many Republican women.

Republican men tend to view Trump favorably, with 61 percent having a positive image of him and 36 percent negative, according to the latest Gallup polling.

But among Republican women, the verdict is almost even — 49 percent positive, 46 percent negative, Gallup found.

 ?? SCOTT OLSON/GETTY ?? Over the last three decades, no political figures come close to GOP presidenti­al frontrunne­r Donald Trump’s current unfavorabl­e ratings, pollsters say.
SCOTT OLSON/GETTY Over the last three decades, no political figures come close to GOP presidenti­al frontrunne­r Donald Trump’s current unfavorabl­e ratings, pollsters say.

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