--- title: Voters Don't Think Any Candidate Would Make a Good President description: A survey released Wednesday shows voters as a whole doubt any of the 2016 candidates have the makings of a great president canonical: https://time.com/4187754/voters-skeptical-of-2016-candidates-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-bernie-sanders/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-20T22:29:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:41.281Z article:section: Politics og:title: Voters Don't Think Any 2016 Candidate Would Make a Good President og:description: But candidates received more positive reviews from their own parties og:url: https://time.com/4187754/voters-skeptical-of-2016-candidates-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-bernie-sanders/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3991d9920583da10/698879c5a988ca6e686b630a/trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, in Norwalk, Iowa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Voters Don't Think Any 2016 Candidate Would Make a Good President twitter:description: But candidates received more positive reviews from their own parties twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3991d9920583da10/698879c5a988ca6e686b630a/trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Voters Don't Think Any 2016 Candidate Would Make a Good President > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 20, 2016 10:29 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in Norwalk, Iowa, on Jan. 20, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in Norwalk, Iowa, on Jan. 20, 2016. Evan Vucci—AP by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 20, 2016 10:29 PM UTC Americans are [skeptical of anyone running](http://www.people-press.org/2016/01/20/voters-skeptical-that-2016-candidates-would-make-good-presidents/) for the White House in 2016, according to a new poll. A Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday shows voters as a whole doubt any of the 2016 candidates have the makings of a great president. However, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton received positive reviews from their own parties. Overall, 31% of voters say that Trump would be a good or great president, while 52% think he would make a poor or terrible president, with 38% saying terrible. Clinton also has a negative favorability, with 44% saying she wouldn’t make a good or great president and 35% thinking she would. When the survey results are broken down by party, however, the picture begins to look more favorable. Among Democrats, the possibility of a Clinton presidency receives a far more positive reaction than Bernie Sanders. A majority of Democrats, 64%, say Clinton would make a good or great president, compared to 51% for Sanders. Only 11% say she would be poor or terrible—and of Sanders supporters, 68% say Clinton would make a good or great president. For Trump, 56% of Republican voters say he would make a good or great president, while 22% say he would be poor or terrible and 18% say he would be just an average president. No other candidate polled better among GOP voters and only Sen. Ted Cruz came close with 53% rating him favorably (29% think he would be average). Of those who say Trump would make a good president, 61% say the same about Cruz. Sen. Marco Rubio and Ben Carson polled reasonably well, with 44% predicting they would be good or great, while only 25% said the same of Jeb Bush. The survey was conducted from Jan. 7-14 and surveyed 2,009 adults nationally, including 1,525 registered voters. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4187754/voters-skeptical-of-2016-candidates-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-bernie-sanders/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4187754/voters-skeptical-of-2016-candidates-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-bernie-sanders/"},"headline":"Voters Don't Think Any 2016 Candidate Would Make a Good President","datePublished":"2016-01-20T22:29:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:41.281Z","description":"But candidates received more positive reviews from their own parties","url":"https://time.com/4187754/voters-skeptical-of-2016-candidates-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-bernie-sanders/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Polls","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3991d9920583da10/698879c5a988ca6e686b630a/trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3991d9920583da10/698879c5a988ca6e686b630a/trump4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, in Norwalk, Iowa. 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