The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

4 brutal poll numbers that greet Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention

July 25, 2016 at 4:42 p.m. EDT
Some audience members booed and chanted Bernie Sanders's name when Hillary Clinton was mentioned during the opening invocation at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia July 25. (Video: Video: The Washington Post/Photo: Michael Robinson-Chavez/TWP)

It's common for presidential candidates to get a bump from their conventions, and two new polls Monday suggest Donald Trump did indeed get that.

But the new polls don't just show Trump's stock rising (however temporarily that may be); they also have some very bad news for Hillary Clinton and her already-declining personal image. Indeed, politically, she's doing as bad as she ever has — if not worse.

A caveat at the outset: The GOP convention was, as was to be expected, very anti-Clinton. There were chants of "lock her up" and plenty of accusations lodged against Clinton. So it's perhaps not surprising to see Clinton's numbers take a hit. But they have been steadily getting worse for months and are now basically worse than ever before.

Below, four key points:

1) 68 percent say Clinton isn't honest and trustworthy

That's according to the CNN poll, and it's her worst number on-record. It's also up from 65 percent earlier this month and 59 percent in May. The 30 percent who see Clinton as honest and trustworthy is now well shy of the number who say the same of Trump: 43 percent.

You heard that right: Trump — he of the many, many Pinocchios — now has a large lead on Clinton when it comes to honesty and trustworthiness.

The CBS poll, for what it's worth, has a similar number saying Clinton is dishonest: 67 percent.

2) Her image has never been worse

CBS showed just 31 percent have favorable views of Clinton and 56 percent have unfavorable ones. Even in Trump's worst days on the campaign trail, he has rarely dipped below a 31 percent favorable rating. Clinton has hit that number a few times, but her negative-25 net favorable rating here is tied for the worst of her campaign, according to Huffington Post Pollster.

In the CNN poll, the 39 percent who say they have a favorable view of Clinton is lower than at any point in CNN's regular polling since April 1992 — when she wasn't even first lady yet. Of course, back then, the reason just 38 percent of people liked her was because many were unfamiliar with her. At the time, 39 percent were unfavorable and 23 percent had no opinion.

Clinton's favorable rating in the CNN poll is currently 16 points net-negative. That's unprecedented in the dozens of CNN polls on her since 1992.

Gallup's new numbers on Monday — 38 percent favorable and 57 percent unfavorable — are also unprecedented over the course of Clinton's political career.

This also appears to be the first time ever that Clinton's image measures worse than Trump's. It does so in both polls.

3) Just 38 percent would be "proud" to have her as president

That's down from 55 percent in March 2015. Sixty percent say they would not be proud.

On this measure, she's basically on the same footing as Trump, whom 39 percent would be proud of and 59 percent wouldn't be.

4) Nearly half of Democratic primary voters still want Bernie Sanders

Clinton dispatched with Sanders and now has his endorsement, but despite 9 in 10 consistent Sanders supporters saying they'll vote Clinton in November, many of them still pine for their first love.

The CNN poll, in fact, shows 45 percent of those who voted in Democratic primaries still say they wish it was Sanders. Just 49 percent say they prefer Clinton — down from 55 percent a month ago.