Raleigh, N.C. – Dennis Kucinich may be a Congressman without a district soon, but there is one race he would surely win: president. That is, in a Bizarro world in which Barack Obama were not renominated and the strangely more realistic scenario in which Sarah Palin or Donald Trump were crowned by the GOP.
Voters think so little of Palin and Trump that they would even prefer one of the most outspoken liberals in the country in the White House. More than a fifth are undecided either because they know so little about Kucinich or they cannot make up their minds in such an unlikely situation. But Kucinich would top Palin, 43-36, and Trump, 40-36.
Palin and Trump get only a hair more support against Kucinich than against the president. Though they lose the independent vote by narrower margins against Kucinich, Palin earns 33% of unaffiliateds against Obama and 32% against Kucinich. For Trump, it is 35% versus Obama and 38% against Kucinich. Palin and Trump are almost universally known. Most of the undecideds, therefore, are on the fence because they know so little about Kucinich. Whether they would still prefer Kucinich if he were an actual candidate is the question.
Continuing the trend in which Palin typically does worse both in the primary matchups with Republican women and far worse against President Obama with all women than the other Republicans do, female voters prefer the current Ohio congressman over the ex-Alaska governor by 20 points, 49-29.
“As the Trump boomlet comes to an end there’s probably no better way to show how much his image crashed with the American public over the last month than the fact that he would lose a head to head with Dennis Kucinich,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “His poll numbers with the general electorate started out poor and moved from there to humiliating.”
PPP surveyed 814 American voters from May 5th to 8th. The margin of error for the survey is +/-3.4%. This poll was not paid for or authorized by any campaign or political organization. PPP surveys are conducted through automated telephone interviews. PPP is a Democratic polling company, but polling expert Nate Silver of the New York Times found that its surveys in 2010 actually exhibited a slight bias toward Republican candidates.
Topline results are below. Full results, including crosstabs, can be found here.
Q1 If the candidates for President next year were
Democrat Dennis Kucinich and Republican
Sarah Palin, who would you vote for?
Dennis Kucinich ………………………………………. 43%
Sarah Palin …………………………………………….. 36%
Undecided………………………………………………. 21%
Q2 If the candidates for President next year were
Democrat Dennis Kucinich and Republican
Donald Trump, who would you vote for?
Dennis Kucinich ………………………………………. 40%
Donald Trump …………………………………………. 36%
Undecided………………………………………………. 24%
Q3 Who did you vote for President in 2008?
John McCain…………………………………………… 41%
Barack Obama………………………………………… 49%
Someone Else/Don’t Remember………………… 10%
Q4 Would you describe yourself as very liberal,
somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat
conservative, or very conservative?
Very liberal ……………………………………………… 9%
Somewhat liberal …………………………………….. 18%
Moderate………………………………………………… 33%
Somewhat conservative……………………………. 22%
Very conservative ……………………………………. 18%
Q5 If you are a woman, press 1. If a man, press 2.
Woman ………………………………………………….. 52%
Man……………………………………………………….. 48%
Q6 If you are a Democrat, press 1. If a
Republican, press 2. If you are an independent
or identify with another party, press 3.
Democrat ……………………………………………….. 40%
Republican……………………………………………… 34%
Independent/Other…………………………………… 27%
Q7 If you are Hispanic, press 1. If white, press 2.
If African-American, press 3. If other, press 4.
Hispanic…………………………………………………. 8%
White …………………………………………………….. 75%
African-American …………………………………….. 12%
Other……………………………………………………… 5%
Q8 If you are 18 to 29 years old, press 1. If 30 to
45, press 2. If 46 to 65, press 3. If you are
older than 65, press 4.
18 to 29………………………………………………….. 12%
30 to 45………………………………………………….. 28%
46 to 65………………………………………………….. 40%
Older than 65………………………………………….. 20%
