Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg would tie Donald Trump in a theoretical presidential election, a new survey shows.
The poll released Tuesday by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling showed Zuckerberg evenly matched with Trump, with 40 percent support each. Twenty percent were undecided.
But Zuckerberg also trends toward Trump in another way: Underwater favorability ratings. Twenty-nine percent of respondents have an unfavorable view of Zuckerberg, with only 24 percent favorable. Forty-seven percent were unsure. The pollsters noted that Zuckerberg “is actually not a particularly well-known figure nationally.”
The poll found Trump to have a 55 percent unfavorable and 41 percent favorable rating.
Zuckerberg was the choice of 69 percent of voters who cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and 9 percent of Trump voters.
The poll came about, apparently, because for the past few months, Zuckerberg has conspicuously looked like a guy who’s considering running for president. He’s been touring the country, visiting diners and truck stops, having dinner with a typical Ohio family, even punching the clock at a Ford factory. All the kinds of things future presidential candidates do on “listening tours” or exploratory committee runs. Adding to the speculation: He’s been accompanied by former political operatives on his jaunts.
But the businessman claims a Mark Zuckerberg president attempt isn’t his goal, denying he’s seeking a future in politics. He has said he’s touring the country essentially on a reconnaissance mission for Facebook, to explore new models for how to connect users beyond people they already know.
Tuesday’s poll showed Trump would lose to a number of other potential Democratic candidates, including Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ), 45 percent to 40 percent; Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), 49 percent to 42 percent; Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), 41 percent to 40 percent; Bernie Sanders (I-VT), 52 percent to 39 percent; and former Vice President Joe Biden, 54 percent to 39 percent.
