Americans Want To Dump Trump

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Would Clint Eastwood make a good President? Should Donald Trump drop out of the race? These questions and more are answered in a new report, CallFire's Great Debate, a study that looks at public sentiment around this year's presidential candidates, including which celebrities Americans feel would be a dream candidate, who should stay in the race and who should seek the nearest exit.

Two surveys were conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CallFire, a cloud-based voice and text communications platform that politicians and political groups leverage to interact with constituents and potential voters, in July & August 2015 among U.S. adults age 18 and older.

The Great Debate

While Donald Trump may be leading the polls for the GOP candidacy, his support is tempered at best. When asked in July which presidential candidate U.S. adults would most want to see drop out of the running, Donald Trump (41%) leads the pack, above Hillary Clinton (25%), Jeb Bush (9%), Ted Cruz (8%), Bernie Sanders (3%) and Rand Paul (2%). Younger adults are more likely to select Donald Trump over any of these candidates with 52% of adults 18-34 claiming "you're fired!" and asking him to exit the boardroom.

Broken down by region (July 2015 data):

• Donald Trump – 47% of those in the West vs. 37% in Midwest would like to see Trump's name dropped from the ballot
• Hillary Clinton – 29% in Midwest vs. 22% in other markets (Northeast and West) said Hillary is the name they don't want to see come election day
• Ted Cruz – 10% in South vs. 5% in Midwest chose Cruz as the candidate they'd most like to see leave the race

Eastwood Trumps Trump

While celebrities are often rumored to have political aspirations, it's far less frequent that they actually end up on the ballot (here's looking at you, Governator). But perhaps more should consider throwing their hat in the ring. In the August survey, nearly six in 10 Americans (57%) said a celebrity could make for a good president.

When asked in the July survey who they would cast a vote for between a current presidential candidate and a potential celebrity, more often US adults chose the celebrity over the actual candidate. Clint Eastwood beats Trump in that situation three to one, though in this case Eastwood actually has more political prowess (he was the mayor of Carmel, California, from 1986 to 1988).

• Clint Eastwood (72%) vs. Donald Trump (28%)
• George Clooney (57%) vs. Jeb Bush (43%)
• Bernie Sanders (54%) vs. Jerry Seinfeld (46%)
• Hillary Clinton (55%) vs. Oprah Winfrey (45%)
• Ben Affleck (59%) vs. Ted Cruz (41%)
• Jimmy Fallon (55%) vs. Rand Paul (45%)

Eastwood also reappears when asked in the August survey specifically which celebrities U.S. adults think would make a good president, among favorites like Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney and Meryl Streep.

• Morgan Freeman came out on top with nearly one in four Americans (23%) saying he would make a good Commander in Chief
• Clint Eastwood (20%) and Jon Stewart (16%) followed

A Breakdown in Communication?

Of no surprise is the fact that as of July, two in three adults (65%) look to the media (print, online and broadcast) as their leading source for information about presidential candidates. However, it appears social media is also a go-to resource for information – social media tied with political track record at 19% as a place where constituents get the majority of their information on candidates. Millennials in particular look to their "friends" to help form their opinions, with 39% of the 18-34 set saying they turn to social networks for the majority of their information. Do women really spend more time on social media? Looks like they do, with 23% favoring it as an information source about Presidential candidates compared to 15% of men.

Additional sources of information that may sway voters' decision include:

• Debates, with one in four Americans citing it as a source (25%)
• Communication directly from the candidate (7%) which may include voicemails, text messages or other forms of one to one communication

About CallFire
CallFire, Inc. provides phone and text services to help organizations of all sizes efficiently communicate with customers, prospects and other constituents. The CallFire self serve platform is intuitive enough for the smallest organization or startup, while also robust enough for the Fortune 500. Over 200,000 customers have relied on CallFire since 2006. For more information, visit www.callfire.com.

Survey Methodology
The July survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of CallFire from July 22-24, 2015 among 2,039 adults ages 18 and older, and the August survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of CallFire from August 7-11, 2015 among 2,084 adults ages 18 and older. These online surveys are not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Nikki Neumann, [email protected] or 424-204-9962.

SOURCE CallFire, Inc.

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