The Fox News poll released Thursday night found 56 percent of likely voters believe Donald Trump is not qualified to be president, compared to just 31 percent who said that about Hillary Clinton.
Fox asked voters whether the two candidates were “very qualified,” “somewhat qualified,” “not very qualified” or “not at all” qualified to be president.
Forty-nine percent said Trump was “not at all” qualified to be president. In other words, half of all American voters believe Trump has no business being anywhere near the Oval Office. That is a devastating number.
Another 7 percent say he is “not very” qualified, so overall 56 percent of Americans believe he is not qualified to be president.
It gets worse. The poll also found 63 percent think Trump lacks the temperament to be president, while 64 percent believe Clinton does have the right temperament. And 77 percent of the respondents said Trump is not a good role model for children, but 54 percent said Hillary is.
Thiessen also points out that the Fox poll doesn’t break down those numbers by state, so it is possible that in states where Trump is still competitive a smaller fraction of the electorate considers him unqualified. And with third party candidates pulling 10 percent of the vote, he only needs a plurality to win.
The new Fox News poll had even more bad news for Trump:
- Hillary’s lead over Trump has increased to seven points, 45 to 38 percent, in a four-way race.
- Trump is losing Independents — 35 percent now support Clinton and Trump, another 21 percent backing Johnson or Stein. Trump was up by 12 points among independents in late September.
- Eighty-one percent of Democrats back Clinton and 80 percent of Republicans support Trump.
- Trump has lost his enthusiasm advantage — 70 percent of his backers “strongly” supported him last week, but only 63 percent do now. Clinton is at 66 percent, up from 57 percent last week.
- Hillary is now seen as honest and trustworthy by 33 percent. For Trump, it’s 32 percent — down four points from last week.
The Fox News Poll was conducted October 10-12, 2016 and has margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
It is worth noting that the Fox polls have generally been Trump-friendly, and that Donald has touted them from the trail and stage on more than one occasion.