If you put all of your faith into the political polls that garner so many national headlines, the latest one from the Washington Post and ABC News would be cause for concern. According to the poll, Hillary Clinton now leads Donald Trump 51% to 39%, a shocking turnaround from last month’s edition of the same poll, which showed Trump leading Hillary by two. Either this man has had one of the worst months in American presidential history…or something wonky’s going on.
To be clear, there’s plenty of reason to believe the former is true. It has not been a good month for Trump by any measure, especially not when you take the temperature of the media’s coverage of the billionaire. The networks and newspapers hammered Trump throughout the primaries, but they have turned up the heat with a vengeance in the last four weeks. And Trump himself stumbled, creating a pointless controversy with his attacks on a federal judge.
But there are other reasons to believe there’s more to this poll than meets the eye. For instance: 64% believe Trump does not have the necessary credentials to be president. Okay. 56% believe he stands against their values. 56% believe he is unqualified.
But then, later in the poll, we learn that 56% believe the U.S. needs to go in a new direction. And among these voters, Trump leads Clinton 64% to 26%.
Curious.
The majority supports Clinton.
The majority thinks Trump is unqualified to be president.
BUT…
The majority thinks the country needs a new direction.
The majority of people who think this support Trump.
Something doesn’t add up.
Politically speaking, the great hope of Donald Trump was that he would be able to survive the mass media onslaught that has crushed so many Republicans in the past. As he weathered one primary storm after another, it began to seem as though he might be impervious to the usual attacks. A political candidate who doesn’t apologize, doesn’t duck questions with carefully-prepared comments, and doesn’t lose support no matter what? Surely, this was too good to be true.
Well, maybe it was. Maybe this is proof that Trump’s teflon coating is starting to be chipped away.
Or maybe the media is finally shedding the last shackles of journalistic integrity, using twisted polls not to report public opinion – but to create it.
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