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Is Hillary Clinton really ‘undamaged’ by scandals? [As trumpeted by the polls]
Hotair ^ | 5/7/2015 | Noah Rothman

Posted on 05/07/2015 7:39:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

It’s becoming a trend. A variety of polls now trumpet the claim that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ran the gauntlet and emerged unscathed. Despite the best efforts of Republicans and the press, her candidacy cannot be derailed. Her hour come round at last, Hillary Clinton slouches unremittingly toward the White House.

“Hillary Clinton appears to have initially weathered a barrage of news about her use of a private email account when she was secretary of state and practices of her family’s foundation,” The New York Times reported this week in a write-up around a poll the organization conducted in coordination with CBS News. “Americans now view Mrs. Clinton more favorably and more see her as a strong leader than they did early in the year, despite weeks of scrutiny about her ethics.”

With the release of a Quinnipiac University poll on Thursday came the related assertion that Clinton maintains “an early lock on the first-in-the-nation presidential test, apparently undamaged by a nationwide flood of negative publicity.”

But The Times and Quinnipiac aren’t talking about the likely general electorate exclusively. They’re talking about Democrats.

Among self-identified Democrats in The Times/CBS survey, Clinton is seen as trustworthy, a strong leader, and the prohibitive favorite to win the nomination. The majority of Democratic poll respondents also claimed that they had heard nothing – nothing at all – about the scandals involving the former secretary of state that have dominated coverage of her candidacy.

Quinnipiac’s survey of Iowa’s Democratic caucus-goers found similar results. The vast majority of Iowa Democrats view Clinton as an honest and trustworthy figure as well as a strong leader, and 61 percent are prepared to back her at the caucuses next winter.

If the late breaking news is that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic presidential nominee, I don’t think you’ll soon see crowds forming in Times Square staring slack-jawed at the news ticker as they digest that revelation.

But even among Democrats, there are signs that committed liberals are rallying around self-described socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as the only viable progressive alternative in the race. Quinnipiac found 15 percent backing Sanders in Iowa. While that is a minuscule amount of support compared to the former secretary’s 61 percent support, this finding confirms the Democratic survey firm Public Policy Polling’s results in April that found Sanders surging from no support to having the backing of 14 percent of Hawkeye State Democrats.

New York Times journalists crowed that Clinton’s favorability rating has “improved by nine points since the disclosure in late March that she did not use a government email account as secretary of state.” That sounds amazing, until you learn that her favorability rating in that survey is 35 percent compared to 36 percent unfavorability — two figures omitted from the paper’s write-up around that poll.

Yes, this is a marked improvement from last March when only 26 percent told Times/CBS pollsters they had favorable feelings towards Hillary Clinton. Today, another 17 percent said they were undecided and 11 percent declined to respond or did not know enough about Hillary Clinton. That’s bad news. From 2007 to 2013, the number of “did not know enoughs” about Clinton never exceeded 5 percent. Every American all they need to know about Hillary Clinton. It’s not that these voters don’t know enough about her; it’s that what they thought they knew isn’t true.

Moreover, this Times/CBS survey comports with NBC News/Wall Street Journal’s latest survey that found Hillary Clinton clearly tarnished by the scandalous revelations involving her tenure at state and her family’s charities.

“Clinton’s unfavorable rating has ticked up six points since March, and the percentage giving her high marks for being honest and straightforward has declined 13 points from a year ago,” NBC News’ write up read. “In the new NBC/WSJ poll, Clinton’s favorable/unfavorable rating stands at 42 positive, 42 negative (even) – down from 44 percent positive, 36 percent negative in March (+8).”

GOP pollster Bill McInturff discovered in the NBC News/WSJ poll what The Times and Quinnipiac have found: Democrats are utterly unmoved by or indifferent toward Hillary Clinton’s scandals. Only the most committed progressives, many of whom never trusted Clinton in the first place, have turned on her. The rest of the party is perfectly Ready for Hillary.

As for the general electorate, it would be dishonest to suggest that they are not paying attention to the revelations involving Clinton’s behavior and that they are taking a toll on her image. And, yet, there appears to be a concerted effort to advance that contention.


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016; hillaryclinton; scandals
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To: Steely Tom

like I said, she could kill a puppy with her bare hands on TV, steal the donation can from a homeless veteran, and sing the Soviet national anthem and still get 47 percent of the vote.
We need the other 53.


21 posted on 05/07/2015 8:04:47 AM PDT by dp0622
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To: SeekAndFind; mountainlion; BenLurkin; MeshugeMikey; skeeter; windsorknot; ...

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/07/revealed-four-clinton-foundation-trustees-charged-or-convicted-of-financial-crimes/

“.. at least four Clinton Foundation board of directors have either been charged or convicted of financial crimes, including bribery and fraud.”


22 posted on 05/07/2015 8:14:23 AM PDT by GOPJ ("Rewarding the angriest and most violent made the Middle East unstable"...Baltimore too. -D.G.)
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To: SeekAndFind
The majority of Democrats have heard nothing at all about her scandals?

I guess that means that they never watch Fox. Has the mainstream media covered the stories?

23 posted on 05/07/2015 8:21:30 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: SeekAndFind

Yeah, but only chics care what they say.


24 posted on 05/07/2015 8:28:04 AM PDT by chris37 (Heartless)
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

That’s true, they are, but there is a whole lot of ‘em.


25 posted on 05/07/2015 8:29:49 AM PDT by chris37 (Heartless)
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To: GOPJ

THE WOMAN’S WELL ON HER WAY..to Leavenworth


26 posted on 05/07/2015 8:51:55 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey ("Never, Never, Never, Give Up," Winston Churchill ><>)
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To: SeekAndFind

These are the same pollsters that predicted the Rats would hold the Senate in 14?

Okay then...


27 posted on 05/07/2015 9:10:55 AM PDT by VRWCarea51 (The original 1998 version)
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To: SeekAndFind

Liberal parasites don’t care how corrupt she is, as long as they get their cut too. Shallow women who “vote with their vagina” don’t care either, so long as her anatomy (which I do NOT want to visualize!) matches theirs. It’s only the swing voters who matter in elections, and they are not paying attention. Yet.


28 posted on 05/07/2015 9:12:31 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: SeekAndFind
I don't know. Even the Left is wondering about Hillary and Bill.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/hillary-clinton-bundler-disclosure-campaign-finance

29 posted on 05/07/2015 9:16:39 AM PDT by elhombrelibre (Against Obama. Against Putin. Pro-freedom. Pro-US Constitution.)
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To: Reno89519

What personal attacks? Be specific.


30 posted on 05/07/2015 9:17:00 AM PDT by gogeo (If you are Tea Party, the eGOP does not want you.)
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To: SeekAndFind
She will remain "undamaged" until Obama finds a candidate he wants and then he will try to completely destroy Hillary.

The final war between Obama and the Clintons is going to be really entertaining to watch. Obama may think he's got Chicago thuggery on his side, but I don't think he really understands how efficient and brutal the Arkansas Mafia is.

31 posted on 05/07/2015 9:25:33 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: mountainlion

“Why would liberals want an honest politician?”

They have no problem whatsoever with dishonest politicians, as long as they get their “fair share” of the graft.


32 posted on 05/07/2015 9:29:10 AM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day".)
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
He11, Boxer, Feinstein and Mikulski would probably be waiting their turn.
33 posted on 05/07/2015 9:31:23 AM PDT by skimbell
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To: TexasCajun

“If she wasn’t damaged goods, she wouldn’t be hiding and would welcome reporter’s questions”

I think both parties are saving their most powerful ammunition until it’s closer to the election.


34 posted on 05/07/2015 9:40:37 AM PDT by cymbeline
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To: SeekAndFind
What's keeping her alive right now is strictly the utter lack of alternative viable national candidates in the Democratic Party at this time.


35 posted on 05/07/2015 9:43:45 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: SeekAndFind

She is the most corrupt candidate and she is undamaged, thanks to the mainstream media syndicate protection.


36 posted on 05/07/2015 10:39:49 AM PDT by The_Media_never_lie (The media must be defeated any way it can be done.)
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