Donald Trump is rapidly becoming one of the most polarizing candidates in recent memory
A new Washington Post/ABC poll out on Wednesday shows the key to Trump's strength: His surging popularity among white voters.
The Post/ABC poll shows that the current Republican front-runner's favorability has grown 4% in the last month. All of that increase came from white voters, whose favorability of Trump increased 6% over that same period.
White voters overall are now split on their opinion of Trump. According to the poll, 48% of white voters see Trump favorably, compared to 49% who see him unfavorably.
Meanwhile, Trump's support among non-white voters is virtually non-existent.
Black and Latino voters overwhelmingly dislike Trump - 79% of people in both groups responded that they held a negative view of the real-estate magnate. Despite increasingly negative numbers from Latinos, Trump continues to insists that he will "win the Latino vote" by helping to create jobs.
Some Democrats, though are hoping to use the real estate magnate's controversial statements about immigration to help boost voter registration and motivate Latinos to vote for their nominee.
Wednesday's poll further shows the polarization of the electorate has fully crossed over into the presidential race. Clinton, for example, is in far worse shape than Trump among white voters. The former secretary of state is viewed favorably by only 34% of white voters, while 65% view her negatively. That compares with a non-white electorate that views her favorably by a 71-26 split.
Clinton's favorability among Democrats has remained around 80%, while her unfavorable numbers among independents has risen by 10%. Trump is now faring slightly better among independents, with favorability split at 41-54 among independents while Clinton's sit at 39-59.
Although Clinton continues to face intense scrutiny, mostly over her use of a personal email server as secretary of state, she's still in a slightly better position than the Republican front-runners. She's more popular among Democrats than Trump or Bush are among the Republican base.
But Trump's candidacy has shown that even candidates with high name recognition and high unfavorability can turn their numbers around - Trump is now viewed favorably by many likely Republican primary voters in key states. And Republicans are also increasingly beginning to believe that he has a good shot at being the nominee.
Here are the favorability numbers of the four candidates tested in the poll:
- 37% of voters view Trump favorably, vs. 59% that view him unfavorably.
- 38% of voters view former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) favorably, vs. 55% who view him unfavorably.
- 45% of voters view Clinton favorably, versus 53% who view her unfavorably. The Washington Post notes that this is the highest unfavorable number for Clinton since April 2008, only a few months before she dropped out of the race.
- 46% of voters view Vice President Joe Biden favorably, vs 46% who view him unfavorably.