Donald Trump is the most hated presidential candidate since David Duke
In three decades of ABC News/Washington Post presidential candidate favorability polling, only one candidate has performed worse on a national scale than Donald Trump is doing right now. That candidate is former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) grand wizard David Duke:
Trump's 71 percent unfavorability rating — which would have pushed him ahead of Duke's highest total — was measured in late May of 2015, before he was officially a candidate.
Where Trump and Duke's campaign paths significantly diverge, however, is in their vote totals: While Duke won just over 100,000 votes and zero delegates in 1992, Trump has more than 8 million votes and 700 delegates so far.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Trump and Duke were linked in the news earlier this year after Duke told his radio audience it would be "treason to your heritage" to support anyone other than Trump. Trump's response was infamously jumbled, as he first said he would have to do more research on Duke and the KKK before ultimately disavowing both — and blaming his original equivocation on a bad interview connection.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Today's political cartoons - October 23, 2024
Cartoons Wednesday's cartoons - loving thy neighbour, an HR matter, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Giuliani must hand assets to women he defamed
Speed Read The former New York City mayor must turn over his apartment and other possessions
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Abercrombie ex-CEO charged with sex crimes
Speed Read Mike Jeffries ran the brand during its heyday from 1992 to 2014
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Giuliani must hand assets to women he defamed
Speed Read The former New York City mayor must turn over his apartment and other possessions
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump aims to be a fascist dictator, John Kelly says
Speed Read The retired general was Trump's chief of staff from 2017 to 2019
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Central Park 5 sue Trump for defamation
Speed Read The group was wrongfully convicted of raping a jogger in 1989
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Moldova backs joining EU in close vote marred by Russia
Speed Read The country's president was also pushed into a runoff election
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump gets profane at Catholic charity dinner
Speed Read The Republican nominee mocked Kamala Harris, her husband, her running mate, President Joe Biden and other Democrats
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Florida ordered to allow pro-abortion rights ads
Speed Read A federal judge in Florida ordered the DeSantis administration to stop threatening TV stations for running an abortion rights referendum ad
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Is Trump okay?
Today's Big Question Former president's mental fitness and alleged cognitive decline firmly back in the spotlight after 'bizarre' town hall event
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Pentagon grants ousted LGBTQ vets full benefits
Speed Read The new ruling will apply to more than 820 LGBTQ veterans
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published