On Monday, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll painted a dreary picture for Hillary Clinton, as the Journal’s Janet Hook reported:
Sen. Bernie Sanders has all but eliminated Hillary Clinton’s polling lead among Democratic voters nationwide...offering signs that she continues to struggle with the primary electorate at a time when she wanted to build strength for the general election.
Mr. Sanders for the first time is close to tying Mrs. Clinton, as 48% of Democratic primary voters picked him as their first choice for president, while 50% picked her. In a poll last month, Mrs. Clinton was ahead by nine percentage points, enjoying a 53%-to-44% edge.
Guess what? NBC News has failed to pass along this depressing part of the poll on television.
As the Journal’s James Taranto mused: “Ten months ago, Mrs. Clinton led 75% to Sanders’s 15%. Since then, apart from a bit of fluctuation in the fall, the convergence has been steady. At this rate, Sanders should overtake Mrs. Clinton a month from now, by which point she will have wrapped up the nomination.”
The good news in this bad-news poll is Republicans hate Trump more than Democrats loathe Hillary:
Mrs. Clinton’s saving grace is the weakness of her potential Republican opposition. The survey found that GOP front-runner Donald Trump would have a harder time consolidating his party behind him than she would hers. Some 38% of Republican primary voters said they couldn’t see themselves supporting the New York businessman, while 21% of Democrats said they couldn’t support Mrs. Clinton.
In a hypothetical general-election matchup, Mrs. Clinton outpolls Mr. Trump 50% to 39%, the survey found. But for most voters, that would be a lesser-of-two-evils choice: 56% of both Trump and Clinton voters said their vote would be cast because they didn’t want the other candidate to win.
On television, NBC only stuck to all the candidates being unpopular:
April 18 NBC Nightly News
PETER ALEXANDER: Still, the loudest voice tonight, the American voters, unimpressed by all the leading candidates. Our new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showing nearly 70 percent couldn't see themselves supporting Trump. Sixty-one percent opposed to Cruz; Hillary Clinton nearly as unpopular. Cruz today insisting Trump will be defeated at a contested convention....As Trump protests his new nickname for his presumed Democratic rival --
DONALD TRUMP: It's Crooked Hillary. She`s as crooked as they come.
PETER ALEXANDER: -- our poll shows Clinton would crush Trump this fall, winning by eleven points, Cruz trailing Clinton by a hair. Only John Kasich beats her, a 12-point advantage.
April 19 Today
MATT LAUER: We want to ask you about something else. We want to get to your take on the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. When it comes to the leading candidate’s likability, listen to this, 68 percent of all voters say they could not see themselves supporting Donald Trump. Sixty-one percent say they couldn’t back Ted Cruz, and 58 percent say they couldn't see themselves supporting Hillary Clinton. Now, the way I look at this, not only about the race for the nomination, one of these people will become President. How do they start to govern with that kind of negativity surrounding them?
CHUCK TODD: This is what I've been throwing up my hands about. I don’t know.
