Opinion

More Americans Have Had Venereal Diseases Than View Trump Favorably, Poll Shows

chlamydia YouTube screenshot/microveda, Donald Trump Reuters/Jim Bourg

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A poll released on Thursday shows that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump boasts a nationwide personal popularity rating of 31 percent.

By way of comparison, recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that just over 34 percent of America’s 323.4 million residents have or once had a sexually-transmitted disease.

The presidential preference poll, conducted last week by Langer Research Associates for ABC News and The Washington Post, shows that 67 percent of Americans view Trump unfavorably. Just 31 percent of the poll participants have a favorable view of Trump. The remaining 2 percent said they have no opinion of the businessman.

Trump’s 67-percent unfavorable rating remains unchanged from a similar ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted last month. The current rating is slightly lower than Trump’s 71-percent unfavorable rating he garnered a year ago.

Other Republican candidates fare somewhat better. The poll shows 53 percent of Americans view [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] favorably while 36 percent view the Texas senator unfavorably. Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s favorability rating of 39 percent matches his unfavorable rating — also 39 percent.

On the Democratic side, an ABC News/Washington Post poll from last month shows that 52 percent of Americans view former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unfavorably, while 46 percent view her favorably.

A recent Associated Press-GfK poll shows that 48 percent of Americans view socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders favorably while 39 percent view him unfavorably, according to ABC News.

Trump’s massive unpopularity as a presidential candidate is the highest in three decades of polling among candidates who have any remotely serious chance at winning. Only David Duke has enjoyed more national antagonism. In 1992, an ABC/Post poll found that 69 percent of Americans viewed the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan unfavorably, according to Langer Research.

Other Republican presidential candidates who have experienced exceedingly high unfavorable ratings in recent years include Pat Buchanan (60 percent in 2000), Jeb Bush (58 percent in 2016) and Newt Gingrich (56 percent in 2012).

Among Democratic presidential candidates, only Hillary Clinton has brandished an unfavorable rating of over 50 percent during an election year.

Ross Perot’s unfavorable rating was 58 percent in 1996 when he ran as the Reform Party candidate.

On the venereal disease front, federal government data shows that 110 million Americans have or once had a sexually-transmitted disease.

The diseases range from syphilis to human immunodeficiency virus (the virus that causes AIDS) to chlamydia to human papillomavirus (HPV)‎.

CDC data shows that 55,400 Americans contract syphilis each year, 41,400 contract HIV, 2.86 million contract chlamydia and 14.1 million contract HPV.

The Langer Research Associates poll conducted for ABC News and The Washington Post randomly sampled 1,010 adults — via mobile phones and landlines — around the country. Most of the poll takers responded in English. A small contingent responded in Spanish.

Langer Research Associates is the primary pollster for ABC News.

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