Poll: Negative Views Of Presidential Nominees Reach Historic Highs Among Voters
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Positive voter outlook has hit a historic low for both the Democratic and Republican parties this election season, with those on the both sides of the aisle expressing distrust in their current nominees, according to a new Monmouth University poll.
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According to the poll, 35 percent of voters expressed negative views of both Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump -- the highest recorded percentage of negative outlook on record since 1984. In fact, the number of voters with a negative outlook of both candidates never passed 9 percent, which was recorded in 1992.
On the other side of the spectrum, only two percent of voters reported a positive outlook of both nominees. When it came to individual parties, 33 percent of voters expressed positive views of Clinton only, while 24 percent expressed positive opinions of only Trump.
"This is truly extraordinary. It seems like a significant number of voters are backing a presidential candidate about whom they cannot say anything positive," Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement Monday.
Both political candidates have faced their share of scrutiny, as election day approaches in upcoming weeks.
Clinton made headlines earlier this month when the State Department turned over 44 previously-unreleased email exchanges showing her interacting with lobbyists, Clinton Foundation donors and business interests as secretary of state. The new emails were not included in the 30,000 private messages she turned over to the government in 2015.
According to the poll, 54 percent of voters said they believe Clinton gave donors special treatment, with 26 saying she "did nothing out of the ordinary."
Voters have also cast doubt on Trump's refusal to release his personal tax returns, with more than 50 percent of voters saying they believe Trump has something to hide in his returns, according to the poll.
Clinton released her tax returns earlier this year. Trump has said he can't release his returns because he is under an audit by the IRS.
According to the poll, Clinton holds a seven-point lead over Trump among likely November election voters, with 46 percent of the vote to Trump's 39 percent. Among their own parties, Clinton holds 85 percent of the Democratic vote, with Trump carrying 78 percent of the vote among registered Republicans.