… A February YouGov poll that ranked Clinton and Trump worst on trust asked voters what they wanted in a candidate. For Republicans, trust tied with “has policy proposals I agree with.” For Democrats, trust came in third but only 2 points behind “has the experience to be president.”
But at the ballot box, honesty doesn’t seem to matter as much. This is partly a function of some broad changes in the American electorate and partly a coincidence, in that these two candidates are overcoming their glaring trust problems. With voters more polarized than ever before, and with their trust in the government and other institutions at a nadir, many have begun to rank trust lower on their list of desired political attributes. Or perhaps they’ve set it aside altogether. At the same time, both of these two very different candidates have managed to convince voters of this: You don’t have to trust me, but you should still pick me. CONT.
Winston Ross, Newsweek