Most voters view Hillary Clinton’s running mate Sen. Tim Kaine less favorably after they learn about his political perks — how he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and vacations — according to a new poll.
A Morning Consult survey found that when voters learned Kaine, as governor of Virginia, accepted gifts worth $150,000 and another $18,000 for a vacation to the Caribbean from an investor in his state, their view of him became less favorable.
According to the poll results:
When voters learned about the Caribbean vacation, 51 percent of them had a less favorable impression of him. Another 49 percent of them had a less favorable view of Kaine when they learned about the gifts. Among independents, the vacation left 54 percent of respondents with a less favorable view of him, while the gifts left half of them with a less favorable view.
Republican nominee Donald Trump capitalized on Kaine’s political gifting by calling him “corrupt Kaine.”
“But that is not the only negative message that works against Kaine,” Morning Consult’s Eli Yokley notes. “As governor, he made six campaign promises to Virginia voters but only succeeded in accomplishing one of them. Half of independent voters said that left them with a less favorable view, compared with 58 percent of Republicans and 43 percent of Democrats.”
The survey questioned 2,502 voters and has a plus or minus two percent margin of error.