Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are tied in a national poll released on Thursday — a day before Mr. Trump is scheduled to unveil his vice presidential pick and just days before the GOP convention kicks off in Cleveland.
Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton were tied at 40 percent apiece in the CBS/New York Times poll. Mrs. Clinton had held a 6-point, 43 percent to 37 percent lead in a CBS survey released last month.
In a three-way contest, Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton were tied at 36 percent apiece, with Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson at 12 percent. Candidates must hit a polling threshold of 15 percent in order to get invited to the fall debates.
Fully two-thirds of respondents — 67 percent — said Mrs. Clinton is not honest and trustworthy, compared to 28 percent who said she is honest and trustworthy. Sixty-two percent said Mr. Trump is not honest and trustworthy, compared to 33 percent who said he is.
The survey was conducted from July 8-12 — soon after FBI Director James B. Comey said he was not recommending charges tied to the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s private email server. But Mr. Comey also said Mrs. Clinton was “extremely careless” with the set-up.
Nearly seven in 10 respondents said Mrs. Clinton at least did something improper in setting up a personal email address and server for work as secretary of state, with 46 percent saying her activities were illegal.
Forty-eight percent said they have “a lot” or “some” confidence the FBI’s investigation into her email set-up was independent and impartial, compared to 47 percent who said they have “not much” confidence or “none at all.”
Mrs. Clinton’s favorability was also marginally worse than Mr. Trump’s. She had a 28 percent/54 percent favorable/unfavorable split, compared to Mr. Trump’s 30 percent/54 percent split.
Among likely nominees heading into the conventions, those unfavorable ratings are the highest in CBS News polling dating back to 1984 when the question was first asked.
Respondents were split, 50 percent to 48 percent, on whether Mrs. Clinton is prepared for the job of president, while 67 percent said Mr. Trump is not prepared for the job.
But by an 11-point margin, they said Mr. Trump would do a better job handling the economy and jobs.
Mrs. Clinton, meanwhile, had a 3-point edge on illegal immigration and a 31-point edge on race relations.
The two were tied on terrorism and national security, while Mr. Trump held a 1-point, 47 percent to 46 percent edge on trade.
Sixty-seven percent of supporters of Sen. Bernard Sanders in the Democratic primary contest said they’ll vote for Mrs. Clinton in the fall, compared to 9 percent who said they’ll vote for Mr. Trump. Most of the interviews were conducted before Mr. Sanders endorsed Mrs. Clinton on Tuesday.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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