Wednesday, October 21, 2015

First Read: 'We Don't Like Our Candidates Very Much'

First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.
 
Voters in the NBC/WSJ poll: "We don't like our candidates very much"

Beyond the horserace numbers, the approval ratings, and opinions about tomorrow's Benghazi committee testimony, maybe the biggest finding in our new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll is how the American electorate -- at large -- doesn't care for the 2016 field. Every major candidate in the poll, including non-candidate Joe Biden (at least for now), gets a majority of voters saying they are uncertain/pessimistic about their ability to do a good job as president vs. optimistic/satisfied. According to our pollsters, there is no precedent for that level of negativity for the ENTIRE FIELD in the history of the NBC/WSJ poll on this question. "We don't like our candidates very much," co-pollster Bill McInturff (R) said in summing up the finding here. "There is no single candidate who got a net-positive rating [on this question]. There is simply no precedent for that." The numbers: 
  • Biden: 46% optimistic/satisfied, 52% uncertain/pessimistic (-6)
  • Sanders: 43% optimistic/satisfied, 50% uncertain/pessimistic (-7)
  • Carson: 42% optimistic/satisfied, 50% uncertain/pessimistic (-8)
  • Clinton: 43% optimistic/satisfied, 56% uncertain/pessimistic (-13)
  • Rubio: 39% optimistic/satisfied, 52% uncertain/pessimistic (-13)
  • Fiorina: 31% optimistic/satisfied, 55% uncertain/pessimistic (-24)
  • Bush: 36% optimistic/satisfied, 62% uncertain/pessimistic (-26)
  • Cruz: 29% optimistic/satisfied, 61% uncertain/pessimistic (-32)
  • Trump: 32% optimistic/satisfied, 67% uncertain/pessimistic (-35)

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