Students watch the first Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Monday during a viewing event at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. | Getty Poll finds 7 percent of voters have ended friendships over the election

The polarizing clash between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has brought out the worst in people, even to the point of severing friendships, according to a national Monmouth University poll released Wednesday.

Seven-in-10 registered voters said the presidential election has brought out the worst in people (just 4 percent said this election has brought out the best in people), with a majority of respondents maintaining that the harsh rhetoric in politics is unjustified.


Sixty-five percent said the jarring language in politics is unjustified, while 3-in-10 believe it is, indeed, justified given the current state of the nation. There’s a deep divide among supporters of whether the language is justified, though: 47 percent of Trump’s supporters said it is; just 17 percent of Clinton’s supporters agreed.

“Half of Trump supporters seem to be saying let the expletives fly, but many voters blame both sides equally for the negative tone of this year’s campaign,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Half of those surveyed laid the blame equally at the foot of both Clinton and Trump supporters. Thirty-seven percent contended that the harsh rhetoric comes more from Trump supporters, though, while just 11 percent said it comes more from people backing Clinton.

While an overwhelming 93 percent said this election hasn’t cost them any friendships, 7 percent said it has. Those numbers, however, mirror the results when registered voters were asked whether any friendships have been lost or ended because of a political campaign in past years. Seven percent said yes, while the remaining 93 percent said the opposite.

The Monmouth survey of 802 registered voters was conducted Sept. 22-25 via landline and cellphone. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.