Twenty percent of Americans likely to vote in the November election would support an independent candidate for president over Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, a new survey shows.
Here are the results of the poll, released Saturday, by the New York-based
Schoen Consulting firm:
Who would you support for president?
- Trump: 33 percent.
- Clinton: 33 percent.
- Independent candidate: 20 percent.
- Not sure: 14 percent.
The Schoen Consulting results mirror those released last Wednesday by
Data Targeting Inc., a pollster based in Gainesville, Fla.
Who would you support for president?
- Trump: 34 percent.
- Clinton: 31 percent.
- Independent: 21 percent.
- Not sure: 14 percent.
Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee, while Clinton holds a commanding lead for the Democratic slot over challenger Bernie Sanders.
Doug Schoen, who has polled for former President Bill Clinton and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said that the results reflected "broad and popular support among the American public for a credible independent alternative to the two major presidential candidates … driven by deep anger about the state of American politics generally, and the Clinton and Trump candidacies specifically."
Schoen, also a Fox News contributor, found similar support for an independent candidate in his polling for the 2012 election — and for similar research projects since 2007.
The findings "correspond to metrics tracked by Gallup and Pew indicating strong desire for an independent presidential candidate," he said.
Schoen's data was based on surveys of 1,000 likely voters conducted between last Monday and Wednesday. The margin of error is 3.5 percent.
In other results, the poll found these favorability ratings for Trump and Clinton:
Trump:
- Unfavorable: 59 percent.
- Favorable: 35 percent.
Clinton:
- Unfavorable: 58 percent.
- Favorable: 40 percent.
"Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have historically high negative favorability ratings, with both candidates from the major political parties viewed unfavorably by nearly 60 percent of Americans," Schoen said of the results.
However, "voters are virtually split in the two-way race, and large numbers of voters remain undecided — as many find themselves without a clear choice in November.
"There has been a growing consensus that this election is not about 'Never Trump' or 'Never Hillary' — but that it is about finding alternative possibilities," Schoen concluded.
In gauging overall attitudes toward presidential candidates, here's what the survey found:
- Not satisfied with current candidates: 61 percent.
- Unfavorable toward Trump: 59 percent.
- Unfavorable toward Clinton: 58 percent.
- Unfavorable toward both Trump and Clinton: 25 percent.
"The party system in America is potentially crumbling, with support for Bernie Sanders on the left and opposition to Donald Trump on the right indicating clear divisions within the bases of both parties," Schoen said.
"This poll demonstrates a clear, concerted desire in the electorate for alternatives to what the mainstream political parties have to offer."
The Data Targeting poll of 997 Americans was conducted May 12 to May 15 and has a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
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