Most Americans will 'definitely not' vote for Trump in 2020 election, new poll indicates

'These are catastrophic,' political scientist says

A majority of Americans said they would “definitely not” vote for Donald Trump in the next presidential election, according to a new poll.

Fifty-six per cent of respondents in the Washington Post/ABC News survey said they would “definitely not vote for” Mr Trump if he secures the Republican nomination – double the number (28 per cent) who say they definitely would vote for him.

Among women, almost a third (64 per cent) said they will not countenance support for Mr Trump, compared to just under half (48 per cent) of men. Fifty-nine per cent of independent voters who do not align with Democrats or Republicans, also ruled out supporting a second term for the 72-year-old White House incumbent.

The results compare unfavourably with Barack Obama during his first term. Across six polls, the former president never had more than 46 per cent of respondents say they would refuse to vote for him.

Mr Obama won re-election in 2012 with 51 per cent of the popular vote, compared to 47 per cent for his Republican opponent Mitt Romney.

“These are catastrophic poll numbers for Trump,” Brian Klass, a US political scientist at University College London, wrote on Twitter. He added: “Though his worry may be surviving through 2019.”

A third (31 per cent) of Republican voters said they wanted someone else as the nominee for the party at the next election, despite three-quarters (75 per cent) of the party’s supporters approving of his performance so far in office.

The new figures come the same day it was revealed Nancy Pelosi’s approval rating has doubled (34%) since the start of the US government shutdown. The House Democratic leader was instrumental in forcing Mr Trump to last week back down on his wall demands.

It also comes two weeks after Rasmussen Reports, a conservative-leaning poll Mr Trump often cites as evidence of his popularity, said his approval rating was at its lowest point in a year.

Mr Trump’s wavering popularity has spurred on some centrist Republicans to publicly consider a challenge to the billionaire in the party's presidential primary elections.

Primary challeges to sitting presidents are not unprecedented, and though all recent examples have been unsuccessful, each modern president who has faced one – Gerald Ford in ’76, Jimmy Carter in ’80 and George W Bush in ’92 – went on to lose the general election.

In a bid to strengthen Mr Trump’s position in the party, last week the Republican National Committee voted unanimously for a resolution expressing “undivided support” for the president.

The Rasmussen Reports poll found 43 per cent of people approved of the president’s performance, while 55% said they disapproved.

The Washington Post poll was conducted by phone between 21 and 24 January among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. Results have a 3.5 per cent margin of sampling error.