Clinton and Trump Struggling to Fire Up their Bases, Poll Finds

Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton are really filling their supporters with enthusiasm less than two months before Election Day, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll that finds the Democratic nominee maintaining her edge over her Republican rival.

The poll found that 46% of likely voters prefer the Democratic candidate, while 41% prefer Trump. Libertarian Gary Johnson maintains about 9% support, while the Green Party’s Jill Stein holds 2% of the vote. Among registered voters, where Clinton has been the strongest consistently, her lead widens to 45% support compared to Trump’s 37%. The poll was conducted before a weekend in which Clinton floundered over a health issue and was criticized for labeling Trump voters “deplorables.”

Voters seemed to be inspired less by their favored candidate and more by their dislike for his or her rival. The poll finds about 80% of both Trump and Clinton supporters feel their candidate’s opponent would do real damage to the country if elected this November and fewer than half of supporters—46% for Trump and 33% for Clinton—are “very enthusiastic” about their respective candidacies.

But greater shares of Trump supporters are interested in both the businessman’s campaign and in casting a ballot for him this November. According to the poll, about 60% of the Republican’s supporters say they are following the campaign very closely and 93% are sure they’re going to vote. On the other hand, 45% of Clinton supporters are dutifully following along and 80% are sure they will vote.

Both Clinton and Trump face an uphill battle to Election Day and with the first general election debate just two weeks away they both are running out of time to make an impression on undecided voters.

The Washington Post/ABC poll was conducted Sept. 5 thru Sept. 8. 1,002 voters were surveyed and it has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.