Poll: Phillie Phanatic More Qualified to Be President Than Donald Trump

A new poll found Pennsylvanians prefer the Phillie Phanatic to Donald Trump for president — and it’s not even all that close.

Get a compelling long read and must-have lifestyle tips in your inbox every Sunday morning — great with coffee!

Don’t want to vote for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump this November, but not quite ready to push the button for Hillary Clinton? You could always vote for the Phillie Phanatic.

Public Policy Polling, a liberal-leaning polling firm that was judged the most accurate in 2012, recently polled Pennsylvania voters. And PPP found that citizens of the Keystone State find the Phillie Phanatic to be more qualified to be president than Donald Trump.

It wasn’t all that close, either: Forty-six percent of Pennsylvania voters surveyed said the Phillie Phanatic was more qualified to be president than Trump, with 40 percent saying they felt Trump was more qualified than the giant, green fuzzy mascot who doesn’t talk. Fourteen percent said they weren’t sure. Weren’t sure.

Clinton, Trump Deadlocked in Pennsylvania

In serious questions asked by the poll, voters preferred Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump, 41-40 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson got 6 percent, while the Green Party’s Jill Stein got 3 percent. Republicans are more unified around Trump (79 to 8 percent) than Democrats are around Clinton (75 to 15 percent). In an election without the third-party candidates, Clinton and Trump tie at 44 percent.

“The biggest question in the presidential race at this point is whether hesitant Bernie Sanders fans are going to get behind Hillary Clinton or not,” Dean Debnam, president of PPP, said in a release. “In Pennsylvania if the answer to that question is yes, Clinton will be a strong favorite in the state. If the answer to that question is no, the state will be a toss up.” With all due respect, Dean, the biggest question in the presidential race after this poll is: Can the Phanatic mount a write-in campaign for president, despite being technically ineligible to serve as a native of Ecuador? (He’s from the Galapagos Islands.)

The firm also asked voters a hypothetical scenario where Rick Santorum is Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee. That hurt Trump in the state, pushing Clinton ahead by two percentage points in the head-to-head matchup. Public Policy Polling surveyed 1,106 registered voters in the state from June 3rd to 5th. The margin of error is +/- 3.0 percent.

McGinty, Toomey in Close Race

The poll also found a tight race between incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Toomey and Democratic challenger Katie McGinty, who have been taking up the commercial airwaves recently. Toomey has a 41 percent to 38 percent lead over McGinty.

PPP found both candidates have negative favorability ratings. Only 29 percent of voters approve of Toomey (41 percent disapprove), while only 26 percent of voters have a positive opinion of McGinty (34 percent have a negative view). Fifty-three percent of voters surveyed said the vacant seat on the Supreme Court should be filled this year, an issue that could hurt Toomey.