A third of Americans say Trump is a fascist; 12% say Harris is

Less than two weeks before the presidential election, a new YouGov poll examined how Americans perceive the two presidential candidates. A majority say Donald Trump is more arrogant than Kamala Harris, but he is also seen as a stronger leader – 45% say he is a stronger leader than Harris, while 37% say Harris is a stronger leader.

The biggest differences are in perceptions of the two candidates: 56% think Trump is more arrogant, while 23% say Harris is more arrogant. 50% say Trump is more reckless, while 28% say Harris is more reckless. 44% say Trump is more divisive and 23% say Harris is more divisive.

45% think Harris is more compassionate than Trump; 31% say the opposite. 44% think she is more likeable than Trump. 34% say he is the more likeable of the two. 41% think Trump is more charismatic than Harris and 33% think Harris is the more charismatic.

The perception of the characteristics of both candidates has remained relatively stable in recent months, with a few small exceptions. More Americans say Trump is the more charismatic candidate now (41%) than they did in September (35%). More people now see him as more likeable than Harris (34%) than they did in September (28%).

Among Democrats, 91% say Harris is more compassionate than Trump, 89% say she is more personable and 89% say she is a better communicator. Among Republicans, 88% say Trump is a stronger leader, 84% say he is more competent than Harris and 82% say he is more qualified.

About a third of Americans describe Donald Trump as authoritarian (34%), extremist (33%) and fascist (31%). 47% describe him as conservative.

By far the most common descriptor chosen by Americans for Harris — out of a list of 10 political adjectives — is liberal; 60% say she is liberal. About half as many describe Harris as moderate (29%) and socialist (27%); 23% describe her as an extremist. 12% think Harris is an authoritarian and the same share think she is a fascist.

The share of Americans who say Trump is authoritarian has fallen slightly since September, from 42% to 34%.

What do Democrats and Republicans think about each other's presidential candidate? 65% of Democrats and 2% of Republicans think Trump is extremist; 61% of Democrats and 2% of Republicans say he is a fascist. 57% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans say Harris is liberal. 10% of Democrats and 52% of Republicans say she is a socialist.

— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article

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Check out the results of this YouGov poll

Methodology: This YouGov survey was conducted online October 23-25, 2024 among 1,139 U.S. adults. Respondents were selected from YouGov's opt-in panel and were representative of U.S. adults. The sample was weighted by gender, age, race, education, 2020 and presidential voter turnout, basic party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets are from the 2019 American Community Survey. Base party identification is the respondent's last response before November 1, 2022 and is weighted by the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democrat, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.

Image: Getty (Win McNamee / staff)