Fox News poll gives Trump 3-point lead over Clinton

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would nose ahead of main Democratic rival Hillary Clinton if elections were held today, according to a Fox News poll published Thursday.

But neither candidate is considered to be particularly attractive, the poll found. Among the 1,021 participants nationwide who took part in the phone survey, responses about the moral fiber of the two showed most people see both as unreliable as leaders, dishonest, willing to say anything to get into the White House, and are in the race mostly for their own benefit rather than that of the nation.

The poll gave Trump 45% of the vote in a head-to-head with Clinton, who scored 42% when respondents were asked who they would vote for if elections were held today. The gap between the candidates fell within the survey’s margin of error of plus or minus three percent. In April, a Fox News poll gave Clinton an identical lead, beating Trump by 48-41%.

Clinton’s own party rival Bernie Sanders, who is trailing far behind her in the race for the Democratic nomination, would beat Trump 46-42% in a face-off, the poll found. Yet 10% of Sanders supporters said they would vote for Trump over Clinton if it came to a choice between the two. Sanders’ lead over the businessman-turned-reality-star is down sharply from April, when a survey showed the Vermont senator beating Trump by 53% to 39%.

Among women, Clinton had a strong backing, with 50% voting for her and just 36% against, while the results were reversed among men, with 56% backing Trump and just 33% giving their vote to the Democratic hopeful.

Trump also came out on top among white voters (55%-31%), including among white women, of whom 47% said they vote for him over Clinton, and just 38% supporting the Democrat.

But Clinton had overwhelming support among among black voters (90% to 7%) and Hispanic voters (62-23%), which pundits say will be key to her claiming the White House in November.

Republicans showed more general interest in the election, with 74% agreeing they were either very or extremely interested in the event — compared to just 66% of Democrats who showed the same levels of enthusiasm.

The trust factor

Respondents indicated an overall dismal impression of both Clinton and Trump’s integrity as potential leaders of the nation.

Asked whether they consider the candidates honest and trustworthy, 66% said Clinton was not, while 57% said the same about Trump. Just 31% said they did trust Clinton, while 40% said they trusted Trump.

Furthermore, 57% disagreed that Clinton had “strong moral values,” while 58% disagreed on Trump. Respondents were split (49-50%) on whether Clinton is a strong leader; Trump fared better with 59% seeing him as a strong leader, compared to 38% who were unimpressed.

On reliability as a leader, 55% did not see Clinton as reliable and 50% said the same about Trump. Some 71% felt Clinton would say anything to be elected and 65% had the same response on Trump. Both polled more or less the same on whether they were seen as motivated by their own ends — 57% for Clinton and 56% for Trump.

Nearly half saw Clinton as corrupt (49%), while over a third (37%) said the same about Trump.

Clinton has a commanding lead in the Democratic national delegate count, and is marching toward the party nomination for the November 8 general election. Trump is now less than 100 delegates short of the 1,237 he needs to officially clinch the GOP nomination. All of his rivals have dropped out, while Clinton still battles Bernie Sanders, who has vowed to stay in the race despite trailing in the number of delegates.