And why it may get much worse. From abc news, its this week. Here now, chief anchor george stephanopoulos. Good morning. It seems like nothing in this years race for the white house has been predictable. Our brandnew poll from abc news and the Washington Post promising more surprises to come. Out just this morning, it shows a tight battle between two of the most unliked candidates ever. The top line, donald trump, has edged ahead of Hillary Clinton. Drawing 46 of registered voters to her 44. That lead is inside the margin of error. So technically, a dead heat. But take a look at these trend lines. From september of last year, clinton has always been out front, in march, a ninepoint lead. Now thats gone. You might say the poll shows a race to the bottom. 60 of americans have an unfavorable opinion of donald trump. 53 for Hillary Clinton. The first time in the history of our polling that a majority of americans hold a poor opinion of both candidates. Trumps pulled ahead by bringing republicans home. 85 now support him. Almost half say he holds the core values of the party. Its not great but a big improvement from the primaries. Hes persuading independents to come his way. Turning a ninepoint deficit in march to a 13point lead now with independents. Hillary clinton is having a hard time shoring up the democratic base. 15 of president obamas voters last time now say theyll vote for trump. Will clinton get a bounce when the primaries are over . There are some clues in the poll that may happen. She has to get by bernie first. Albuquerque is ready for a political revolution. [ cheers and applause ] reporter one irony of the campaign, the candidate with the worst chance of making it to the white house is the most popular right now. [ crowd chanting ] all bernie, bernie reporter only Bernie Sanders cracks 50 . The primaries are not simply a popularity contest. Its all about the delegates now. As snl joked last night im not going anywhere. Reporter sanders almost done there. Senator sanders, im sorry, but the night is over. No, no, its not over. Its not over until i say its over. Oh, hello, bernie. I didnt see you sitting behind me. So far behind me you can never catch up. Reporter or as Hillary Clinton put it i will be the nominee for my party chris. That is already done in effect. There is no way that i wont be. Reporter to sanders supporters like those at lack weekends nevada party convention, fighting words this meeting is not over reporter their passion is still strong. That worries democrats looking for a smooth ride to the convention in philadelphia. It was a scary situation. I was there. I saw it. It was frightening. Reporter friday night, sanders full of fight. Over 400 of these superdelegates indicated their support for secretary clinton before anyone else was in the race. Before the first ballot was cast. [ crowd booing ] that is what the anointment process is about. And it is a bad idea. And senator sanders joins us now. Senator, thank you for joining us again today. My pleasure. Secretary clintons gotten definitive right now. She says im going to be the democratic nominee. Theres no way i wont be. Can you lay out a credible path to stopping her . Well, i think she might want to talk to the people of indiana, west virginia, and oregon, who voted very strongly for me in the last three contests. The people of kentucky, who kind of split the delegates. I think well do well in the nine remaining contests. So i think secretary clinton is jumping the gun a little bit here. Heres the scenario. We understand we have about 46 of the pledged delegates. In order to get 50 , we have to do very, very, very well in the remaining nine contests. I think we have a shot. Its going to be an uphill climb. I think we have a shot to do that. Were going to fight as hard as we can for every delegate and every vote. The other point i would make, george, is that if you look at virtually all of the polls done in the last six, seven weeks, in every one of them, National Polls and staidwide polls, we defeat donald trump by larger margins, in some cases, significantly larger margins, than does secretary clinton. You have a lot of superdelegates out there. 400 came on board Clintons Campaign before anybody else was in the race. I ask those superdelegates to take a look at which candidate is the stronger candidate to defeat donald trump, something that has got to happen, in my view. I think the objective evidence is our campaign is the strongest campaign to beat trump. The Clinton Campaign pointed out they got 3 million more votes than you have. When you look at the delegate map, she only needs 90 more pledged delegates to get ahead of you, to win. Her lead over you is twice as large as president obamas in 2008. To win, not only do you have to do very well, you have to get close to 70 of the vote in every remaining state. Thats really not possible. I wouldnt say i would say its a very steep uphill climb. You know, from day one, it has been an uphill climb for us. We started taking on the entire establishment. We have now won 20 states. Between you and me, i think were going to win many of the remaining contests. One of the points clinton makes. Many is not good enough. Shes not three shes not 3 million votes ahead of us. They have conveniently forgotten the states that have caucuses that we won overwhelmingly. I think the reason we do well in the remaining states, the case we make to the superdelegates is the Democratic Party has to open up its doors in a way it hasnt. To working people, lowincome people, young people who are sick and tired of establishment politics and establishment economics. We need an election coming up that has candidates that are not strongly disliked. I dont want the American People voting for the lesser of two evils. I want the American People to be voting for a vision of economic justice. Of social justice. Environmental justice, of racial justice. That is the campaign were running. Thats why were getting the support we are. Is that how you describe Hillary Clinton against donald trump . The lesser of two evils . Well, if you look well, i wouldnt describe it. But thats what the American People are saying. If you look at the Favorability Ratings of donald trump and Hillary Clinton, both of them have very, very high unfavorables. Youre not going disagree with me on that, are you . No question. Absolutely. Our poll shows that. For sure. Our brandnew poll. It has some evidence that your contest is creating challenges that could hurt the democrats in november. Secretary clinton is only running even with donald trump in 18 to 29yearolds. Thats a big drop for her. And 20 of your supporters now say they would vote for donald trump over Hillary Clinton. Thats a big jump since march. If this nomination fight doesnt turn out like you hope, are you confident youll be able to convince your supporters to choose Hillary Clinton over donald trump . Well, you know, two things. Number one its the function of every candidate, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, donald trump, to reach out to the American People and make the case why they should be supported. And i have every confidence that if Hillary Clinton is prepared to stand up to the greed of Corporate America and wall street, is prepared to be really strong on the issue of climate change. Support, as i do, a tax on carbon. Is prepared to say that the United States of america should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to all people, paid family and medical leave. Is prepared to say that the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality today in america, where almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 , if shes strong on those issues, yeah, i think shell win and win by a large vote. But if she is not, shell have a problem. I think the reason were doing so well is that the American People know that if elected president , Bernie Sanders will stand up, fight for working people, and take on the greed of wall street and Corporate America. Are you going to push for those positions in the democratic platform . We are going to push for the most Progressive Agenda that we can that stands with the working people of this country. George, i know the media doesnt talk about it too much. But the middle class of this country has been in decline for 30plus years. And the gap between the very, very rich and everybody else is getting wider. We have a corrupt Campaign Finance system that allows billionaires to buy elections. We are going to fight for an agenda in the democratic platform that recognizes that reality. That makes the Democratic Party the party that stands for working families, not for wall street. Not for Corporate America. A lot of democrats nervous about the protests at the Nevada State Convention last week. A number of your supporters are filing perms to protest in philadelphia as well. Are you encouraging that . Are you confident you can keep the situation in philadelphia under control . One of the things that bothers me about Media Coverage of nevada, i saw a story on the New York Times chairs being thrown. Did you see any chairs being thrown . There werent any. They had a bunch of Police Officers there. To the best of my knowledge, i wasnt there. Nobody was touched. What happened was there was no violence. What happened is people were rude. Thats not good. They were booing, thats not good. They behaved in some ways that were a little bit boorish, not good. But lets not talk about that as violence. Do people in philadelphia, going to philadelphia or any place else in america have the right to demonstrate . Have the right to express their concerns . I thought that was the First Amendment of the constitution. Freedom of expression, freedom of speech. So, no, were not encouraging anybody. In fact, i read about this in the newspaper the other day. But of course, people have the right to peaceably assemble and make their views heard. Let me say this, whats going on and the Democratic Party has to recognize this. Our supporters dont go to fancy, highpriced fundraising dinners. Thats not who they are. Theyre working to feed their family. Give their kids an education. Those are the people coming into our movement. I hope the democratic leadership is smart enough to say, come on in. We want you in. Your views are the views of the majority of the American People. Lets work together. Thats what i hope the convention is about. Obviously, i hope that i win the nomination. If you dont, sir, my final question. Are you open to being considered as secretary clintons running mate . Its a little bit early to talk about that. Right now, our function is to do everything i can, george, youll see me running all over california, in new mexico. Were going to do everything we can to get every vote and every delegate that we can and go into that convention with as much momentum as possible. Didnt hear a no, senator, well talk to you soon. Take care. Thank you. Lets talk about this now on our roundtable. Joined by matthew dowd, cokie roberts, bill kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard just out with its 1,000th issue. Congratulations. Thank you, george. And donna brazile. Polls out this morning. A dead heat. This is going to be a tight race. I think this race is going to be incredibly volatile. Through october, i think. I think primarily driven by the fact that we have two candidates, as you showed in the beginning of this thing who are incredibly unpopular with the vast majority of the american public. Donald trump slightly less popular. Both very unpopular. Both distrusted. Its almost as if, to me, its like the 1927 yankees playing the 1998 yankees. Two great teams but the rest of the country is left out of this conversation. This is all before the general Election Campaign begins. Its actually hard to imagine that either one of those candidates is going to get above 50 favorability. I think this is the high point of favorability in the course of this. I think youll see, it will be an unpopularity contest over the next five months. Some of that depends on the conventions. Some of that depends i think theyll each get a bump out of the convention. The democrats could get a decrease. The poll is 50 of each of the candidates voters are not voting for the candidate. Theyre voting against the other person. Right, and look, donald trump has consolidated the Republican Party. Pretty remarkably fast. You know what, just as fast as another tweet hell probably send out within the hour. Hes consolidated. Democrats are still in a contentious primary. There is no question that Hillary Clinton has the lead in pledged delegates. That matters. Superdelegates. That also mattered. Raw votes. We still have a candidate, Bernie Sanders, you heard him say hell continue to contest this campaign until june 14th. And its having a huge impact if you look in the poll. Not only are young people off of Hillary Clinton completely. People like bill kristol who said, find somebody as an alternative to trump. The voters are not saying that. More romney supporters are for trump than obama supporters are for clinton. I want to bring that to bill krs toll. You have made no secret about that. Youre against trump. Trying to get a Third Party Candidate into the race. That movement seems to be dwindling. I dont think so. The Republican National committee and the trump and Clinton Campaigns are trying to strangle it in its infancy. Because theyre scared of it. I mean, look at that poll. When you throw mitt romneys name in, someone who hasnt run in four years. An impretsssive man. He right away is at 22 . He hasnt done anything. In other polls, the independent generic independent continues run 20, 21. Half of the clinton voters and half of the trump voters dont want to be for clinton or trump. Theyre against the other person. If they had an alternative the way the country is really set up, a quarter of the country is for trump. A quarter of the country is for clinton. Half the country is open to an alternative. The abc poll shows half, basically half, 45 saying, we would like to have a third choice. I think the ground is there. They always say it. Nobody is willing to do it right now. Lets see. Its a tough thing to ask a politician. Its a tough thing to ask someone to do. Lets see what happens in the next week or two. A car with passengers and fuel. But theres no real apparatus and motor to there doesnt need to be an apparatus. There just needs to be a driver. The problem is theres a missing driver in the car right now. I think this is a perfect opportunity for the rise of some third party or fourth party person. You have libertarian gary johnson. Which abc, which we didnt put in this poll. I think hes probably at 8 or 10 in the course of this. It doesnt, to me, its not about winning the election and winning the electoral college. Its representing a vast part of the country, as bill says. A vast part of the country does not feel represented by donald trump or Hillary Clinton as reflected in the fact that they dont trust them and they dont like em. And i think, even if somebody was to run, they should run. To represent a voice in the country that feels totally unrepresented by these two major party candidates. It looks like in this poll that white men feel very represented by donald trump. Its striking how much theyre for him, i mean, by huge margins. But also that the republican registration is up. And that really tells you something. Thats not just anti. Thats people getting in because they want to vote for him. He has room to grow if he can bring down the big personal negatives. About temperament. Qualifications. He loses almost every personal character and is ahead in the poll. Which basically means the greatest vulnerability Hillary Clinton has is that shes an establishment insider candidate. And hes an outsider candidate. In voter interviews, what i have heard. People saying, i dont like him. I dont like his statements on muslims and mexicans. All that. But im voting for him. Why . Because voting for her is more of the same. And thats exactly what they dont want. Which means if an independent candidate could run as a genuine outsider. A fresh voice. But thats not mitt romney. No, but it is ben sass or someone like that. Theres a chunk that wants antiwashington and doesnt want Hillary Clinton but is not committed to donald trump. Heres the thing, george. Shes still fighting a twofront battle. Shes fighting a consolidated Republican Party that has vilified Hillary Clinton from the time she got out of college. And shes also dealing with a Democratic Party that is still, in my judgment, coming to grips with the fact that we have a very liberal, loud, progressive base. We have to say this about Bernie Sanders<