CINCINNATI -- In this year's hotly contested presidential race, the folks at Public Policy Polling decided to ask the nation about something truly important: Harambe.
Because of course.
In a sign of how dissatisfied many voters feel, the Cincinnati Zoo's silverback gorilla — who zookeepers dispatched after a child fell into his enclosure — has lower unfavorables than both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Of course, his favorables aren't that great either, at just 5 percent. In fact, most of those polled weren't sure how they should feel about Harambe -- 69 percent checked in as "Not sure."
For the purposes of the poll, PPP considered Harambe an independent candidate (we can't really know the political leanings of a postmortem primate). And in a three-way race with Clinton and Trump, he pulled 5 percent (to Clinton's 48 and Trump's 43).
Support for President: Gary Johnson 6%, Harambe 5%, Jill Stein 2%
— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) July 31, 2016
(PPP tweeted that Harambe was pulling more support than Green Party candidate Jill Stein, but the data showed no questions about a head-to-head matchup, so it feels like junk data to us.)
Another fun fact: Those likely to support Clinton in November are three times as likely to have a favorable opinion of Harambe as Trump voters. But sadly, with his life cut short, the vast majority of folks still weren't sure what to make of Harambe: 73 percent of Hillary voters said they're "Not sure" if they have a favorable impression of the gorilla, compared with 63 percent of Trump voters (35 percent of them held an unfavorable opinion).
It seems to be a pretty partisan split, too. The trend held when voters were asked who they chose in 2012: Obama supporters had a higher favorability rating of Harambe than Romney voters, but most were still undecided.
Those who describe themselves as "very conservative" were more likely to to hold an unfavorable opinion of Harambe, at 38 percent. His best numbers come from those who are "somewhat liberal" -- but still, that's just an 8 percent who find him favorable. Harambe finds the most support among self-described independents (as compared with Democrats and Republicans), with a 9 percent favorability rating; independents also account for the highest percent of those not sure about Harambe, at 76 percent.
In terms of race, Harambe's highest favorables came from those who describe as "other," while he polled highest -- 16 percent -- among Hispanics in a matchup with Clinton and Trump. White voters were least likely to support him in a three-way race.
In terms of favorability, the genders were evenly split, while men were twice as likely to choose Harambe in a three-way race against Clinton and Trump (at 6 percent compared to 3 percent of women).
And, given all the Harambe memes floating around, it's not surprising the age group that found Harambe most favorable are millennials aged 18-29. The same age group is the most likely to vote for him in a race against Clinton and Trump (though that's still just 12 percent).
This trade deadline would be a lot more exciting if Harambe was still around #RIP pic.twitter.com/m6iOifUXqL
— Trevor Williams (@MeLlamoTrevor) July 31, 2016
People: How is the Harambe meme still alive?
Me: pic.twitter.com/Xn8pLj3n65
— Jed Lee (@jedrlee) July 30, 2016
The poll was conducted July 29-30 and included 1,276 likely voters, with a 2.7-percent margin of error.
You can read the full results here.
