New poll shows Trump viewed as most favorable among list of public figures

By 
 December 24, 2022

Democrats and their media allies, along with some prominent establishment Republicans, have been hyper-critical of former President Donald Trump and have done their worst to try and render him politically toxic to the American people.

Unfortunately for them, those efforts have largely backfired or fallen short, as a recent major poll showed that Trump had the best favorability of all among a list of prominent public figures, Breitbart reported.

Trump viewed most favorably among top public figures

The pollsters at Harvard CAPS/Harris conducted a broad survey of 1,851 registered voters between Dec. 14-15 and asked respondents to share if they had a favorable or unfavorable view of a number of different public figures and institutions.

Of the more than 20 individuals on that list, the overwhelming majority of whom are politicians or government officials, Donald Trump topped the list with a 46 percent favorable rating. When combined with his 47 percent unfavorable rating, that gave Trump a net negative gap of just -1 percent.

Following close on Trump's heels were Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who both garnered 45 percent for favorability but differed in terms of their unfavorability, as DeSantis had 31 percent and Musk had 37 percent in that regard, giving them both a net positive gap of +14 percent and +8 percent, respectively.

Trump vs. the GOP establishment

Breitbart focused on the difference in that poll between former President Trump and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), given their ongoing feud and McConnell's status as one of the most prominent establishment Republicans who stand in open opposition to the former president.

In fact, McConnell has strongly implied that Trump was at fault for the poor performance of Republicans in November's midterm elections, while Trump has similarly suggested that Republicans would perform better with a different leader in the Senate.

Per the poll, McConnell only had a favorable rating of 25 percent, which when compared with his 50 percent unfavorable rating gave him a net negative gap of -25 percent.

That was the worst negative gap of any public figure on the list save for one -- Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was viewed favorably by 14 percent and unfavorably by 71 percent for a net negative gap of -57 percent.

Trump viewed far more favorably than all prominent Democrats

As for former President Trump's most prominent Democratic opponents, the pollsters found that President Joe Biden had 41 percent favorability compared to 51 percent unfavorability, for a net negative gap of -10 percent.

Vice President Kamala Harris and failed 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton both garnered 39 percent favorable ratings, but respectively had unfavorable ratings of 50 and 51 percent for net negative gaps of -11 and -12 percent.

Then there is Trump's arch-nemesis in the House, soon-to-be former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who has favorable and unfavorable ratings of 32 and 53 percent for a net negative gap of -21 percent.

Efforts to demonize Trump have not been overly successful

To be sure, former President Trump's haters -- be they Democrats or Republicans -- have tried incessantly over the past seven years to malign and smear the target of their animosity and drive a wedge between him and his relatively broad base of support.

As this poll shows, however, those efforts have largely been for naught, as Trump continues to garner staunch support from a substantial portion of the American people, far more so than virtually all of his enemies and rivals.

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