By Irin Carmon
Donald Trump has said, “I would be the best for women.” But according to a new NBC News|SurveyMoney poll taken after the first presidential debate, a majority of women aren’t convinced.
Twenty-seven percent of likely women voters said the debate made them think worse of Trump. Meanwhile, nearly a third, or 30 percent, said their opinion of Clinton had improved, compared to 22 percent of men. Women were also far likelier to say Clinton won the debate, by a 10-point margin over men.
“I’m undecided, but I’m leaning more towards Hillary than I ever have before because of the debate,” said Joan Hume, a 71-year-old retiree in Fairfield, Ohio who said she voted for Trump in the Republican primary because she wanted to “see Washington shaken up.”
Hume added, “There’s a side of him that’s scary to me that I’m seeing more of. I thought maybe he would change when he got the nomination, but he’s getting worse.”
Only 11 percent of women voters said their opinion of Trump had improved after the debate. Thirteen percent said their opinion of Clinton had worsened, compared to 21 percent of men who thought less of Clinton after seeing her debate.
Women were also likelier, by a 12-point margin, to doubt Trump’s personality and temperament, while men were likelier to doubt Clinton’s, by a near-identical margin of 13 points.
Trump fared particularly poorly with independent women when they were asked if he has the “temperament and personality to serve.” Eighty percent of independent female voters said he does not. By contrast, independent women voters were more evenly split on Clinton’s personality and temperament, with 51 percent saying she met the test for president.
“I was a little bit taken aback. I understand that Donald Trump is a passionate person, but in situations like that I believe he needed to pull back and not quite be so combative,” said Kathryn Fink, a 63-year-old library technician in Kirtland, Ohio who was undecided before the debate.
Continue reading, NBC News.
