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Bloomberg Poll: Clinton Leads Trump in the Rust Belt

Hillary-ClintonJust what does the Rust Belt think?

That’s one of the biggest questions of this presidential campaign.

Those states usually go Democratic although Donald Trump’s strategy depends on winning over those electoral votes.

Bloomberg Politics and Purple Strategies sought to poll some of the Rust Belt states, choosing Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. Additionally, they targeted middle class voters by surveying households with an income of between $30,000 and $75,000. Unfortunately, they did not provide a state-by-state breakdown of the results yet the statistics still provide some intriguing insights.

First, Clinton leads Trump head-to-head by a 46% to 39% margin with 15% unsure.

42% of respondents, though, believe Clinton will win compared to 34% who think Trump will prevail.

Government and Politicians

One of the more interesting contrasts is that these voters hate government generally but still like the President.

Two-thirds believe the country is on the wrong track and 74% want major changes to the way the government does things.

When it comes to President Obama, however, 47% approve of the job he’s doing while 44% disapprove. Furthermore, the President has one of the best favorability ratings among politicians tested with 50% having a favorable opinion against 49% with an unfavorable one.

In fact, Pres. Obama was one of only three officials with a favorability rating above water. The other two were Bernie Sanders (55/41) and Bill Clinton (51/48).

Elizabeth Warren was also just a point under water (25/26) although many did not recognize her.

These results are a positive for Hillary Clinton, assuming Sanders and Warren vigorously support her.

The Democratic front-runner didn’t fare as well (42/56) although she did better than Trump (34/64).

Other Republicans also struggled including: Mitt Romney (28/64), Newt Gingrich (23/58) and Paul Ryan (34/49).

Closeness to Trump doesn’t seem to be a factor in the above numbers either. Romney has been perhaps Trump’s biggest GOP detractor while Ryan has been notably equivocal and Gingrich wants to be included on the VP shortlist.

Overall, respondents express negative feelings toward the entire campaign. Afraid (31%), disillusioned (19%) and pessimistic (17%) all finished above optimistic (16%) and enthusiastic (9%).

Clinton or Trump?

Bloomberg also gave voters a list of phrases and asked them which candidate each best described.

Clinton lead on the following: possesses the skills needed to conduct foreign policy (54/22); has the right temperament to be President (49/22); is ready to lead our country on day one in office (46/32); will fight harder for the middle class (43/29); would be a good role model for children (39/14); would be a good guest in my home (39/24); cares more about people like me (39/26); understands the challenges facing people like me (38/27); shares my values (35/28); and is trustworthy (29/23).

Trump lead on the following: will change the way Washington does business (50/22); knows what it takes to create jobs (46/31); will combat terrorist threats at home and abroad (46/35); has new ideas to lead us into the future (42/31); could get things done in Washington (39/37); and would rein in the power of Wall Street (38/22).

Finally, voters were given a series of common critiques of the candidates and were asked if they were bothered by them.

The results show that some of the tactics employed by the campaigns so far may not be effective. For instance, voters don’t seem to care about Bill Clinton’s affairs (27%) or Trump’s position on the minimum wage (39%).

The biggest concerns respondents had about Hillary concerned her handling of Benghazi (51%), ISIS (49%) and Wall Street (47%).

The biggest concerns respondents had about Donald concerned his comments about women (60%), his tax cuts for the rich (57%) and the controversy over Trump University (51%).

So expect to hear more about those issues in the months to come.

Bloomberg Politics and Purple Strategies surveyed 803 likely general election voters with incomes between $30,000 and $75,000 in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It was conducted from May 18th to May 24th. The margin of error is +/- 3.5%.

7 Responses

  1. As a life long resident of Pennecticut part of Pennsylvania (People’s Republic of Philadelphia), I can not express my gratitude towards the residents of this state that derisively attacked as living in Pennsyltucky. Many of my neighbors have evacuated the PRP and moved to the more civilized portions of the state where a family can live off a moderate income in small town without having to pick up bags of litter, tires etc from the front of their house every day like I do. I am extremely tired of the progressive elites from SE PA constantly trashing the these people just because they do not buy into the
    “Progressive Agenda” I am also very thankful that Pennsyltuckians still outnumber their elitist detractors. It is the only that keeps Pennsylvania from becoming New Jersey or New York. Thank goodness.

  2. Hey Bucks Voter, with your attitude all of your Demoncrat buddies will be working for Mickey D’s swamping bathrooms and picking up cigarette butts in the parking lot for “a living wage” griping about the billions in profits the “evil corporations” rake in. Then when the Paris accords kick in and the start trading Carbon Credits on the Futures exchanges and you see your electric bill quintuple and gas prices soar to $10 a gallon, you’ll be back in the same place as you are now

    Ten Human rights and Gay rights won’t be such a big deal, you will be worried about your very survival as the politicians like crooked Hillary and the other who want to extract more and more of your money from your paycheck so they can pay down the massive debt and fund pension funds for retired government employees who make more in retirement than you and I do woring full time. Wise up pally and forget Clinton, she’s poison. She’ll ruin your life. Don’t drink the liberal kool-aid or buy into their propaganda. Your very life depends on getting Trump elected. It is that serious. That’s my best advice.

  3. Yes Tim, I will be voting for Hillary Clinton in November. The growing majority of fast-food and retail workers are the main breadwinners in the family. They are not all teenagers. The companies they work for make billions in profit. It’s time to share that profit with living wages of $15 or more per hour. Dirty fossil fuels like coal represent the past. We have to abide by the Paris Climate Change Accords and we do that through renewable energies. Human rights are universal, and that include members of the LGBT community.

  4. Crooked Hillary wants a $15 minimum wage which is equal to $30,000 a year for fast food workers. Now an E-5 with 8 years of service in the armed forces makes just over $28,000 a year. Now your going to tell me that your going to vote for some babe who wants to pay pimply face kids at a fast food joint more than a GI with 8 years of service?
    Crooked Hillary also refused to co-operate into the State Department’s Inspector Generals report of her e-mail server. Now it turns out she had a private server to avoid FOIA requests. How’s that “open government” thing working for you Crooked Hillary.
    As far as the rust belt goes, there is no way this liar Clinton will bring jobs. Her war on coal and fossil fuel is plainly stated and she is owned by the racketeers on Wall street. Now Trump on the other hand will invest in infrastructure and get the economy moving again. We won’t have to be worried about trannies using the womens rest room or gay rights as the central focus of policy issues any more. Instead we can get back to having a great country without these liberal wedge issues used as diversions all the time while the libs rob and loot the treasury. Remember under Obama, he’s borrowed $10 TRILLION dollars, DOUBLING the national debt in 8 short years.
    The rust belt is not going to fall for Crooked Hillary’s line of BS. They are on to her.

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