How voters really feel about Pete Hegseth with his Defense Secretary bid on life support

American voters largely do not approve of President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth. 

The embattled defense secretary nominee has been meeting with senators all week to convince them that he is the right choice. 

Already on thin ice after allegations of binge drinking and misbehaving around women, Hegseth's shot at getting confirmed appears to be narrowing.

Out of the 53 Republican senators that will be overseeing his potential confirmation early next year Hegseth can only lose three GOP votes and still get through.

Several women GOP senators have expressed interest in speaking with Hegseth face-to-face to discuss the claims. 

Many Republicans, though, appear to be on board with Trump's selections.  

But according to the latest DailyMail.com/J.L. Partners poll, voters are unsure that Hegseth is the man for the job. 

The 1,000 registered voters that responded to the survey overall viewed him unfavorably. 

The survey found just a majority of respondents either viewed Hegseth very or somewhat unfavorably, though the bad rating came with a slim one-point margin. 

Further, a majority of voters responded saying that Hegseth is an inappropriate selection for the job.

Just 28 percent of respondents indicated his appointment was appropriate while 29 percent said it was inappropriate, the poll found. 

The remaining respondents either had no opinion (27 percent) or had never heard of him (16 percent). 

Out of the many nominations Trump has made for his Cabinet and other high-ranking roles, only Kristi Noem's nomination to lead the Department of Homeland Security and Hegseth's nomination to be defense secretary were viewed as inappropriate. 

Despite this, the poll found that voters also believe the former TV host should be confirmed to the post by a three-point margin. 

Notably voters responded saying all of Trump's selections should get confirmed. 

Still, among the Republican voters that responded to the poll, Hegseth ranked among the most unpopular nominations.

Just 57 percent of GOP voters responded they want him to be confirmed. 

The only other Cabinet pick to have a lower confirmation approval among Republicans was treasury secretary nomination Scott Bessent at 54 percent. 

Hegseth's approval rating among Senate Republicans is also in question. 

On Thursday morning Hegseth was again spotted on Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers to shore up support. 

'I spoke to Trump this morning, just a few minutes ago. He supports us fully,' Hegseth said walking to a meeting with South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds.

Asked if he'll meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago, he acknowledged that it was the president-elect calling the shots. 'If he wants a meeting we will have a meeting,' he said

Earlier in the morning Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee - the panel tasked with overseeing Hegseth's confirmation - expressed that she was not necessarily on board with the TV host's nomination. 

During a Fox News interview host Bill Hemmer pressed Ernst on her recent meeting with Hegseth, saying it 'doesn’t sound in your answer that you got to a yes.'

'I think you are right,' she responded. 

'I think for a number of our senators they want to make sure that any allegations have been cleared and that’s why we have to have a very thorough vetting,' she said. 

'[We] talked about a number of those issues and we will continue with the vetting process.' 

Ernst, who served for 23 years in the Iowa Army National Guard, has also been reported to be interested in the Pentagon job herself, and could be tapped as a back-up nominee should Hegseth go down. 

Fellow Republican female Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming have also said they plan to meet with Hegseth. 

Both said they are interested in hearing more from him about the various allegations.

Those meetings are expected to occur next week.