Donald Trump's "shotgun approach" is resonating with angry voters — "and it's having a real impact," pollster Patrick Murray told
Newsmax TV on Thursday.
"He's out there just really talking about a lot of things that are wrong with the world, the way the government works," Murray, founding director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute in New Jersey, told "Hard Line" host Ed Berliner. "It's resonating with people who are just really frustrated and feel that there's nobody there who's voicing that frustration on behalf of them.
"It's not so much that he's focusing on one particular issue," Murray added. "He's really just taking on anybody who feels just hasn't played up to snuff right now — and that seems to be the resonation because it's not about an issue, it's not about an ideology, it's just simply about the idea of saying 'We're mad as hell; we're not taking it anymore.'"
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Murray said that Democrat Hillary Clinton is losing support among independents, based on Thursday's
Quinnipiac University poll results. She would essentially tie Republicans Jeb Bush and Scott Walker — all at in the low-40 percent range — in hypothetical contests.
"She had a 55-to-60 percent favorable rating among independents early this year. It's now the low 40 percent, and that's what's driving these numbers in the head-to-head match-ups."
The issue continues to be Clinton's "honest trustworthiness," he told Berliner. "She's having an issue with getting voters to feel that she's been straightforward with them."
And the slide in Clinton's support has been eroding.
"This has definitely been a trend. It's not been just a sudden dropoff; it's not a blip," Murray said. "This has been going downhill since the beginning of the year.
"The only thing that works in Hillary Clinton's favor is that she's got a lot of time to recover from this, because the drop has been among independents and not among Democrats.
"Even though Bernie Sanders is getting a lot of attention right now, her problem is really a November 2016 problem and not a February 2016 problem," Murray said.