In NH, Sanders tops ‘honest’ category in UMass poll

By DAVE EISENSTADTER For The Recorder

AMHERST — More Republicans view Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as more honest than almost all of their own candidates, according to a poll released Sunday by the University of Massachusetts Amherst and WBZ-TV in Boston.



Among likely Republican voters in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, 66 percent found the Vermont senator either “somewhat” or “very” honest (with 94 percent saying so on the Democratic side). Only former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush received a higher score among Republicans with 70 percent, though Sanders outpaced Bush among Repubicans who think he is “very” honest, with 31 percent to Bush’s 23.



Businessman Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the three front-runners from the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses, received honesty scores of 59 percent, 59 percent and 62 percent, respectively, among Republican voters, according to the survey. Among Democrats, 22 percent viewed Trump as either “very” or “somewhat” honest, 19 percent said the same for Rubio and 13 percent believed Cruz to be honest.



Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sanders’ main rival for the Democratic nomination, was viewed as either “very” or “somewhat” honest by only 6 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of Democrats.



Voters were also asked who is qualified to be president. Among all voters, Bush and Sanders led the field of who is most qualified to be president, with 61 and 60 percent respectively stating they were “very” or “somewhat” qualified. Clinton came in third with 53 percent. Trump was seen as the least qualified with 52 percent of all voters indicating he is “very” unqualified.



The survey of 800 likely New Hampshire primary voters (410 likely Democratic and 390 likely Republican), conducted Jan. 29 to Feb. 2 by YouGov, like most recent polls, showed large leads for Sanders and Trump in their respective primaries.



Trump held a 20-point lead over his nearest Republican rival, Rubio, with 35 percent to Rubio’s 15. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich came in third with 11 percent, and was the only other Republican contender to receive double digits in the poll. Cruz, who won the Republican Iowa caucus, ranks fourth at 9 percent, one point ahead of Bush.



On the Democratic side, Sanders received 58 percent support to 35 percent for Clinton, a 23-point lead. Sanders and Clinton are the only two major candidates left running after former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley dropped out of the race following the Iowa caucuses.



Massachusetts will vote March 1, along with about a dozen states. The deadline to register to vote in the Massachusetts primary election is Wednesday.



The poll also included a section where voters could describe candidates in their own words.



For Clinton the top words among all voters were “liar,” “dishonest” and “experienced.” Sanders’ top words were “socialist,” “honest,” and “old.”



Trump’s top words were “bully,” “blowhard” and “arrogant.” Rubio was called “young,” “inexperienced” and “smart.” Cruz was described as “scary,” “conservative” and “crazy.” Bush received the descriptors “weak,” “boring” and “establishment.”



The margin of error within this poll is 7.1 percent among Republican likely voters, 6.6 percent among Democratic likely voters and 4.9 percent among all likely voters.



For the full results, visit:



www.umass.edu/poll/pdfs/20160205_Toplines.pdf





