Bernie Sanders was once just an obscure Vermont senator, and is now a household name — and that is a really, really good thing for him. In fact, of all the candidates running for president, Sanders is the only one whose likeability ratings actually go up as people get to know more about him, an AP poll released Monday night reflects.
Sanders is the most likeable of all the presidential candidates with 48 percent seeing him favorably to 39 percent unfavorably. Those numbers are up from the last time AP did a similar survey, showing he is gaining popularity as people become more familiar with who he is.
"I've grown to like him more. The exposure that he's getting, there's a bit of a snowball effect with his campaign," said Washington D.C. resident Les Blackmore, 60.
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An entire 61 percent of registered voters said they would consider voting for Sanders, with only 38 percent saying there would be no way. The number of voters refusing to even consider Sanders is the lowest in the field.
AP notes that Sanders' numbers also go to show how unlikable the rest of the field is. Hillary Clinton is viewed unfavorably by 55 percent of voters, with 40 percent holding a favorable opinion of her. Donald Trump has the worst margin, with 69 percent of Americans viewing him unfavorably and only 26 holding a good opinion.
AP-GfK's poll of 1,076 adults was conducted online between March 31 and April 4. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.3 percent.
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