Hillary Clinton’s post-convention bump extends to enthusiasm about voting and trust on a slew of issues, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll. And on the most prominent foreign policy issue of late, Russia and its relationship with the US, nearly 6-in-10 see the country as unfriendly, and about half say they think the Russian government is attempting to influence the outcome of the US presidential election.
Asked which is a bigger problem, that US intelligence believes Russia was able to hack into the Democratic National Committee’s email or how Donald Trump reacted, suggesting that Russian hackers should get Clinton’s emails, 61% said the hacking, 31% Trump.
The hack itself is seen as a bigger problem whether voters say they think Russia is attempting to influence the election or not.
Trump’s backers are more apt than Clinton’s supporters to say they see Russia as friendly to the US (43% of Trump supporters say so vs. 36% of Clinton’s backers), and those who favor Clinton are far more likely than Trump supporters to say that the Russian government is trying to influence the election (60% vs. 33% among Trump backers).
And just as foreign policy has come to the forefront of the campaign, Clinton has widened her edge over Trump as more trusted to handle foreign policy (59% Clinton to 36% Trump, up from a 5-point split following the GOP convention) and has pulled even with Trump on handling terrorism (48% each — Trump was +11 after the GOP convention) and ISIS (48% Clinton to 47% Trump — was a 13-point Trump lead after the GOP convention).
Clinton also has an advantage now on most domestic issues, yet her edge on what has consistently held as voters’ top issue — the economy — is too small to be statistically significant: 50% trust her, 48% Trump.
Clinton holds her widest lead over Trump on handling race relations, 61% trust her vs. 34% who trust Trump.
She also has a double-digit edge on health care (+15), nominating justices to the Supreme Court (+14), immigration (+12) and trade with other countries (+10).
Clinton tops Trump by single-digits on handling the criminal justice system (50% Clinton to 43% Trump) and violence against police officers (Clinton 49% to Trump 44%). Trump has a narrow 2-point edge on handling gun policy.
This poll marks the first time in CNN/ORC polling this election cycle that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they’re enthusiastic about voting in the fall. About half of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters (51%) say they are extremely or very enthusiastic about voting for president, compared with 41% among Republican and Republican-leaning voters.
In January, just before voting in the nominating contests got underway, 66% of Republicans said they were enthusiastic vs. 52% of Democrats.
Still, enthusiasm is lower overall (44% extremely or very enthusiastic) than it was in the summer of 2012, and nearly 6-in-10 Americans say they are dissatisfied with their choices for president this year. That dissatisfaction is higher among Republican voters than Democrats, 59% say they are dissatisfied with their choices compared with 42% of Democrats, but independents are least happy with their choices, 67% say they’re dissatisfied.
Despite that widespread dissatisfaction, just 9% say they’re considering not voting at all as a result. Nearly half, 47%, say they’re dissatisfied but will vote anyway.
That dissatisfaction may have long-term consequences for the parties, though.
Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump earned a convention bounce, but impressions of their parties have soured. Unfavorable ratings for both parties rose following the conventions, from 42% unfavorable in mid-July to 47% now for the Democrats, and from 49% unfavorable pre-convention for the GOP to 53% now.
The CNN/ORC Poll was conducted by telephone July 29-31 among a random national sample of 1,003 adults, including 894 registered voters. Results among the sample of registered voters have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
