Okay–there’s one thing I did forget to mention in the new WSJ/NBC News poll: Hillary is having trouble with the middle of America. Yes, she’s tightened her grip with Democrats, and she’s even convincing swing voters that her answers on Benghazi are satisfactory (which is somewhat disturbing). But her metrics with independents after her 11-hour committee testimony on October 22 have dropped.
The poll, which was released earlier this week, asked some character questions, like knowledge and experience, likability, sharing positions on issues, bringing real change, and honest and straightforward–which NBC News’ political director Todd said she was already net negative on four of those five on that list going into the hearing.
Todd said the fact that she did worse with the middle of the electorate post-Benghazi hearing “should only add to the warning signs.” Adding that “she has a long way to go” concerning rehabilitating those numbers with Middle America. When MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked Todd if Clinton hurt herself with this group of voters regarding her remarks about Republicans being the enemy, Todd said, “she might have,” as Republicans and Vice President Joe Biden took issue with those statements from the first Democratic debate last month.
Guy also noted that the latest Quinnipiac poll showed similar dismal numbers on favorability and trustworthiness:
She's at a net (-10) on overall favorability (among the major candidates, only Trump and Jeb are worse), she's languishing at an abysmal (-24) on trustworthiness, and registers at (-9) on the important metric of empathy and caring. Americans split 43/54 (-12) on whether Hillary Clinton shares their values.
It also showed another problem that Todd mentioned back in September: that questions over her electability is now a confirmed cause of concern, given that Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Ben Carson are all beating her in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup; she’s tied with Trump in a CNN poll.
So, it would appear as if I shot my mouth off too soon on Clinton having “best month ever,” though the fact remains that this power couple historically has been Teflon when it comes to scandals.
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