Clinton leads Trump by 9 points: survey

Hillary Clinton has a lead of nine points over her Republican rival Donald Trump with roughly four-in-ten voters saying it is difficult to choose between them because neither would make a good US president, according to a latest survey by a nonpartisan American think tank.

In a two-way contest, 51% of registered voters support presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Clinton, 68, or lean towards her while 42% support or lean towards presumptive Republican presidential nominee Trump, 70, Pew Research Centre said in its latest survey on Thursday.

However, the overall satisfaction with the choice of candidates is at its lowest point in two decades, it said.

 

Currently, fewer than half of registered voters in both parties, 43% of Democrats and 40% Republicans, say they are satisfied with their choices for president, the survey said.

Roughly four-in-ten voters (41%) say it is difficult to choose between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton because neither would make a good president, as high as at any point since 2000. Just 11% say the choice is difficult because either would make a good chief executive, the lowest percentage during this period, it said.

The survey was conducted between June 15-26 among 2,245 adults, including 1,655 registered voters.

According to survey results, just 27% of Americans say the campaign is "focused on important policy debates", which is seven points lower than in December, before the primaries began.

Clinton holds a wide 66%-24% advantage among Hispanic voters.

This is on par with President Barack Obama's lead among Hispanics at similar points in the past two campaigns.

When it comes to the issues at the forefront of voters' minds, the economy tops the list, with 84% of voters — and similar shares across most demographic and political groups — saying it is very important to their vote.

About as many (80%) say the issue of terrorism will be very important to their vote, the survey said.

Clinton is widely viewed as more personally qualified and possessing better judgement than Trump, it said.

"However, neither candidate has an advantage on honesty: 40% say the phrase "honest and truthful" better describes Clinton, 37% say it applies more to Trump and 20% volunteer that it better describes neither candidate," it said.

As per survey results, fully 77% of voters say Trump would change the way things work in Washington, compared with just 45% who say the same about Clinton.

"But more voters say Trump would change things for the worse than for the better (44% vs 33%).

A quarter of voters say Clinton would change Washington for the worse while 20% say she would change things for the better," the survey added.