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“Extreme” Label Isn’t Sticking for Harris or Trump

A recent Gallup poll found that Democratic voters have a more favorable opinion of Vice Present Kamala Harris than Republican voters have of former President Donald Trump.

When asked how satisfied they are with their party’s candidate, 85% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters say they are pleased with Harris. For Republicans and Republican-leaning voters, 73% have positive views of Trump being their candidate.

In comparison, only 55% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters in September 2016 were pleased with their nominee, Hillary Clinton. That same year, just over half (52%) of Republican/Republican-leaning voters were happy to have Trump as their candidate.

Survey participants were asked about each candidate’s qualities and potential and the results predictably fell mostly along partisan lines.

When asked about moral character, 93% of Democrats and 12% of Republicans viewed Harris positively. More than four-fifths (82%) of Republicans believe Trump has “strong moral character,” with 9% of Democrats holding that view.

Regarding likability, almost all (95%) of Democrats believe Harris is likable, with about a quarter (23%) of Republicans saying she is. Republicans are much less likely to think that either Trump (74%) or Harris (11%) is likable.

While both candidates attempt to paint the other as too extreme, the label doesn’t appear to be sticking beyond party identification. About half of all voters believe that Trump is too conservative (48%) or that Harris is too liberal (51%). These rates are consistent with national polls, suggesting that only each candidate’s base believes the other candidate is too extreme.

The survey was a part of the Gallup Poll Social Series. More results and a link to the survey’s methodology can be found here.

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