by Lady Michelle Jennifer Santos

1 February 2016 WASHINGTON, D.C. (TSR) – One-quarter of the high ranking U.S. federal workforce including members of the Senior Executive Service and representatives from at least 30 federal civilian and defense agencies would consider quitting their jobs or retire if Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton were elected president, according to a new independent survey. 

Of the 688 federal employees who participated in the Government Executive Media Group survey, about 14 percent said they would definitely consider leaving federal service or retire under President Trump, while an additional 11 percent said they might.

The findings indicate those leaving government would come from agencies’ top ranks, as a majority of respondents were in General Schedule positions GS-13 and higher.

58% of respondents rank GS/GM-13 and above, including members of the Senior Executive Service and representatives from at least 30 federal civilian and defense agencies.

While 1 in four of the federal workers might quit their jobs or retire if Trump were to lead the executive branch, a majority — about six in 10 — would be “embarrassed” to have him as their boss.

Donald Trump leads the Republican field among federal employees, but many still say they would never work for him.

Half of respondents said the same of Hillary Clinton, compared to 45 percent for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and 37 percent for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Just one in five said the same of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Sanders enjoys the highest net favorability ratings across all candidates and participants in the study, as well as a net favorability score 17 points higher than Clinton’s among Democratic voters.

Meanwhile, a majority (56 percent) said they would support Barack Obama over their current field if he were eligible to serve a third term. Just 37 percent said that given the chance, they would not vote for Obama again.

Nearly as many Democrats said they would consider leaving in a Trump administration as would definitely stay, the survey found. Among Democrats, 42 percent said they would consider leaving, while 48 percent would not. Just 8 percent of Republican feds would consider refusing to work in a Trump presidency.

Overall, 8 percent of respondents said they “don’t know” if they would consider leaving their jobs if Trump prevails in November.

The poll was sent to a random sample of Government Executive print and online subscribers from Jan. 20-26. Of those, 35 percent identify as Independents, 28 percent as Democrats, and 26 percent as Republicans. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent.

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