Partisans are equally likely to say the other candidate is ‘too corrupt’

One of the most remarkable findings from Yahoo News’s new poll is not exactly a new one.

Respondents to the poll, conducted by YouGov, were asked whether they thought a set of concerns applied to President Biden or Donald Trump. Was either of the two general-election candidates too extreme on the issues to be president? Too corrupt? Too incompetent? Too dangerous?

These are broad terms, certainly, allowing for those wanting to express distaste for a candidate to make them fit if they wished. But even given that malleability, it is striking that the difference in views of either candidate as “too corrupt” — not just corrupt, but disqualifyingly corrupt — is so modest.

About 4 in 10 respondents said that was true of Trump, while a third of respondents said so of Biden — a single-digit gap, despite a much wider gap in the number of criminal indictments and impeachments applied to the two candidates.

In general, Americans expressed more concern about Trump than Biden, albeit not by wide margins. Respondents were more likely to say that Trump was too extreme, too corrupt and too dangerous. Only on the “too incompetent” question did a larger percentage identify Biden.