Presidential Election Poll Results

Canton voters appear to be leaning heavily toward Democrat Hillary Clinton as their preferred choice to be the next U.S. president, although trust in both major party candidates is lacking, according to the results of an online survey conducted by the Canton Citizen last week.

Voters line up at the JFK School in 2012.

Administered anonymously over a seven-day period on the Canton Citizen and Everything Canton Facebook pages, the poll was geared toward likely Canton voters and drew 219 unique responses. Questions focused on voter preferences in the upcoming presidential election, the significance of the 2016 election, and opinions on the two major party candidates, Clinton and the Republican nominee, Donald Trump.

Asked which candidate they were planning to vote for in the November 8 election, respondents favored Clinton over Trump by nearly a two-to-one margin, 61 percent to 31 percent, which is slightly larger than the lead she held in the most recent WBUR poll of likely Massachusetts voters (54-28).

[Graphic: Who are you voting for?]

President Obama, by comparison, carried Canton in the 2012 election by just five percentage points (52-47) and in the 2008 election by nine percentage points (53-44). In both instances, the Republican candidate — Mitt Romney in 2012 and John McCain in 2008 — came away victorious in Precinct 4, which is located in the north central part of the town between Dedham Street and Route 138.

But while the Citizen survey shows Clinton in an even stronger position than her former boss and one-time Primary foe, it is clear that voters still have their reservations about the former first lady.

Neither she nor Trump, in fact, seems to have the full backing of their supporters, with nearly a quarter of all respondents (24 percent) indicating “weak support” for the candidate of their choice and another 13 percent only offering “moderate support.” On the other hand, 35 percent of respondents did profess “very strong support” while 28 percent indicated “strong support.”

On the question of trustworthiness, neither candidate fared well among likely Canton voters, with a whopping 58 percent of respondents rating Trump as “very untrustworthy” and a sizable 38 percent indicating the same about Clinton.

The former secretary of state did perform much better than her opponent on one important measure, however, as more than half of all respondents expressed confidence in her ability to lead the nation (4 or 5 on a scale of 1-5 with a median score of 3.1). The billionaire real estate and entertainment mogul, on the other hand, inspired very little confidence, earning a median score of 1.9, including a score of “no confidence” from 62 percent of all respondents.

[Graphic: Rate Clinton/Trump on trustworthiness and leadership ability]

But even as doubts continue to persist about both major candidates and favorability ratings remain at historically low levels, respondents to the Citizen survey did seem to agree about one thing: the upcoming presidential election is a critical one for the country. More than half of all respondents, in fact, consider it to be “among the most important” elections in U.S. history, while another 22 percent called it the “most important” election.

And it’s not just the survey respondents who feel this way either. The Citizen also recently spoke with members of the Canton Democratic and Republican town committees, and while they disagree strongly on what the outcome should be, they both conveyed a sense of real urgency heading into the final few weeks of what has been a raucous election season.

Jeremy Comeau, who co-chairs the Democratic Town Committee, called this year a “critical” one in American politics and expressed outright horror at the thought of a Trump-led White House.

“It would absolutely be a detriment to this country,” said Comeau. “If he were elected president, God forbid, for four years it would be a scary time in this country.”

Referencing the recently released audio tape in which Trump bragged about kissing and groping women — and his subsequent defiance in the face of his female accusers — Comeau said that Trump seems to be “doubling down on his misogyny” and said it “boggles the mind” that Americans would consider electing a man who disrespects and mistreats women.

Furthermore, Comeau said that he personally wants a president “who believes in science and climate change, who believes in a woman’s right to choose, and who believes in marriage equality and LGBT rights.”

He stressed that the local party faithful are fully behind their nominee and believe she has the smarts, experience, leadership ability, and temperament to run the nation, not to mention a decades-long track record of “working for the betterment of the people.”

[Graphic: What are your feelings on electing a woman president?]

In stark contrast to the local Democrats’ perspective, Larry Overlan, vice chairman of the Republican Town Committee, said that a Clinton victory would be disastrous for the country and for the future of the GOP.

Overlan said he is personally still “100 percent behind” Trump, as are many fellow town committee members, and he blasted the Republican leaders who have disavowed their support for the candidate, claiming that they “can’t see the forest through the trees.”

“What I find most disturbing in this race is that people do not have their priorities in line,” he said. “There are enormous issues at stake here, specifically with immigration and trade. This is outrageous that the Republican leadership is not putting the national security of this country first, and I think there will be severe implications for the party if Trump doesn’t win.”

[Graphic: What issues matter most to you as a voter?]

As for the candidate’s controversial remarks and the accusations of mistreatment toward women, Overlan said there has been no evidence of wrongdoing and he believes that Trump’s plan to fix the nation and overall track record carry far more weight than “accusations of something that supposedly happened 20 or 30 years ago.”

“All of that is totally secondary to the security of this country,” he said.

While he acknowledged that it is “highly unlikely, if not impossible” for Trump to win Massachusetts this time around, Overlan said it is still important for local party members to support their candidate, and he could see the state’s voters changing their tune if he were to be elected and have a successful four years in office.

Meanwhile, Comeau said those within the local Democratic party are “not taking anything for granted” and are urging people not to sit this one out. And while Massachusetts has been firmly in the blue for the last several presidential elections, Comeau said there are other ways that local residents can do their part, including making phone calls to voters in swing states, or even taking a ride to New Hampshire to knock on doors.

And when people do cast their ballots in Canton on November 8, Comeau hopes that people pick up an “I voted” sticker, which is something he had seen in other communities and encouraged the town clerk’s office to purchase this year. “We’ve never really had that here, but I think it is meaningful,” he said. “It’s nice because it shows pride in the fact that you actually went out and did your civic duty.”

Presidential Election Poll Graphics

Who are you voting for in the upcoming presidential election?

Rate Clinton/Trump on trustworthiness and leadership ability

What are your feelings on electing a woman president?

What issues matter most to you as a voter?

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=34548

Posted by Jay Turner on Oct 20 2016. Filed under Featured Content. Both comments and pings are currently closed.