AP Poll: Regardless of vote, Americans see division ahead

NEW YORK (AP) — Neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump is seen as likely to unify the U.S. if elected, but pessimism about the Republican candidate is far greater, according to a poll released Monday that reflects deep division in the country.

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 73 percent of Americans believe Trump will further divide the country, compared with 43 percent saying that about Clinton.

Seeing parallels to the 1850s and the lead-up to war, Robertson assessed this as the second-most divisive time in U.S. history.

Perhaps reflective of the string of shootings and other painful recent events, 10 percent named crises or tragedies, making those the second-most cited unifiers.

Clinton's personality, he believes, has more potential at unifying the country, but he sees her liberal policies as ultimately ending up dividing people, too.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,008 adults was conducted June 23-27 — before the political conventions — using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population.

Mary Smith, a 79-year-old retired secretary in Willow Oak, Florida, rated the U.S. as the greatest country, saying she witnessed the goodness of its people as she moved from city to city with her late husband, a Navy submarine sailor.