ALTHOUGH Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner in the race for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, a growing number of American voters distrust and view her unfavorably, according to new polls released on Tuesday, June 2.
According to a CNN/ORC poll, 50 percent dislike the former first lady and secretary of state—up from 44 percent in March (before she announced her presidential bid), the highest level since 2001, when it was 53 percent. The only other time a majority of Americans viewed Clinton unfavorably was in 1996, when she was first lady.
The survey found 46 percent view Clinton favorably, down from 53 percent in March and 61 percent in May 2013.
Meanwhile, 57 percent of Americans say she is not honest and trustworthy (up from 49 percent in March), 47 percent feels she cares about people like them (down from 53 percent in July 2014), and 50 percent feel she does not inspire confidence (up from 42 percent in March 2014).
A new poll by ABC News and the Washington Post shows that Clinton faces similar challenges in her persona. Just 45 percent view her favorably—down 22 percent since January 2013, at the end of her tenure as secretary of state. More people (49 percent) view her unfavorably than favorably for the first time since 2008, when she first ran for president, losing in the Democratic primary.
“Perhaps most alarmingly for her campaign, the number who see Clinton as honest and trustworthy has dropped from 53 percent a year ago, then 46 percent two months ago, to 41 percent now,” the ABC News/Washington Post survey said. “Fifty-two percent now don’t see her as honest and trustworthy, the most, again, since April 2008.”
While the increasing distrust and unfavorable view of Clinton can be attributed in part to perceptions of her by Republican and independent respondents, it can’t be attributed entirely to those respondents.
36 percent of independents and 14 percent of Republicans in the ABC/Washington Post poll said they viewed her favorably. However, “even among those who intend to vote for her in the Democratic primary, just 78 percent see Clinton as trustworthy,” commented Gary Langer of Langer Research Associates, which conducted the new poll.
According to the CNN/ORC survey, more than 80 percent of Democratic voters had viewed her as honest and trustworthy in March. That number has dropped to 73 percent, the new poll found.
However, the good news for the 67-year-old politician is that she remains the dominant front-runner in the Democratic race. Both surveys show that Clinton maintains a lead of more than 45 points over her closest theoretical challenger, Vice President Joe Biden, who has not indicated he intends to run next year, and at least 50 points over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who formally launched his 2016 campaign last week.
While her lead in a theoretical general election against former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has dipped, from 12 to 3 points since March, a majority of Americans (55 percent) in the ABC/WaPo poll said they believe she would win the presidency in that match-up. (With reports from Reuters, Yahoo News)
(LA Midweek June 3 – June 5, 2015 Sec. A pg.5)
