Fifty Percent of Americans Say Hillary Is ‘Honest and Trustworthy’

Today on NRO

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Hillary's weighed down with negatives, but do the Democrats have a choice? Hillary or Bust!

THOMAS SOWELL: Like the great British prime minister, Netanyahu is warning the free world of mortal dangers it would just as soon ignore. A Churchill for Our Times.

HANS A. VON SPAKOVSKY: Did DOJ and DHS lawyers lie to Judge Hanen? Any Other Women Feel Like Swearing at Huckabee?

RICH LOWRY: College-educated and high-school-educated parents, and their children, are sliding in different directions. Class, Not Race.

PHOTO ESSAY: Smithsonian Photo Contest.

Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty, Conservative Journalist of the Year

March 17, 2015

Fifty Percent of Americans Say Hillary Is 'Honest and Trustworthy'

This . . . is CNN:

Unfavorable views of Hillary Clinton are on the rise and perceptions of her as 'honest and trustworthy' have dropped following the revelation that while serving as secretary of state she used a personal email address and home-based server to conduct State Department business.

But questions about Clinton's email practices may not harm her chances if she makes a run for the White House in 2016, as a new CNN/ORC poll finds 57% of Americans say she's someone they'd be proud to have as their president.

Overall, 51% in the poll call Clinton's use of a personal email system rather than a government provided one a very or somewhat serious problem, 48% say it's not too serious an issue or no problem at all. And the public is similarly split over whether Clinton did something wrong by using the personal system; 51% say she did, 47% that she did not.

Here's how they asked the question:

As you may have heard, Hillary Clinton used a personal email address and home-based server to send and receive emails while she served as Secretary of State rather than using the government's email system. Based on what you have heard or read, how serious a problem is it that Clinton used a private email system while Secretary of State: Is it a very serious problem, somewhat serious, not too serious or not a serious problem at all?

That wording is fair enough, but I wonder how much the numbers shift if the question mentions anything about the system's vulnerability to hackers and foreign spies.

A later question asks respondents: Which statement do you agree with?

"The way Clinton handled her email while serving as Secretary of State is an important indicator of her character and ability to serve as president." 46 percent.

"The way Clinton handled her email while serving as Secretary of State is not relevant to her character or her ability to serve as president." 52 percent.

I'm sure the pollsters would contend mentioning "cyber security" or "vulnerability of revealing classified or sensitive information" would nudge the respondent to react more negatively to Clinton in their responses. The pollsters didn't mention FOIA requests, State Department archiving regulations, requests from the Benghazi investigators, and so on.

Without any context, a lot of respondents -- particularly those who pay the least attention to the news -- aren't going to understand why her e-mail system use would reflect upon her character. You might as well ask whether they think she should have used Gmail or Yahoo Mail.

These numbers may look depressing, but here's another way of looking at it: These are Hillary's numbers at the public's current level of disengagement and unfamiliarity with why her e-mail system matters. (It might have been revealing to ask respondents, "Do you know why this matters?")

Then again, the Hillary team has to feel cheered up by most of these numbers. Their spin has been, "This doesn't matter, this is nothing, she did everything in accordance with the law, her server was always completely safe, and this is just more right-wingers going after Hillary."

Note that it's a poll of adults, not registered voters, and not likely voters. Also note in this poll that 2 percent of respondents said they had "never heard of" Bill Clinton.

RedPickle -- okay, the Generation X stay-at-home mom blogger also known as @RedsOutrage -- examines the reaction of some older women and writes:

I mean, I thought for sure the ladies of my mom's generation would see the recent press conference as an attack on Hillary and thereby have sympathy for her. In addition I figured these same women who grew up in the heart of the Feminists [sic] movement would be crawling over each other to vote for her. Why? Yes, for no other reason than she was a women [sic]. I can almost hear it now "I am women hear me roar in numbers too big to ignore…"playing at the campaign rallies. Trust me I heard that song more than once growing up. Over and over and over . . .

But to my surprise that's not happening.

Ladies who had no problem voting for Bill Clinton are not even thinking about doing the same for Hillary. They say they made up their mind years ago about her and they add this latest email snafu only reconfirms those feelings. Women or not, this is not the candidate they want to see in the Oval Office.

The e-mail issue will play into an albatross that will weigh her down. Check out the right direction/wrong track numbers: They're bad, and they've been bad for a long time:

If Hillary became president tomorrow, what would she change? Would she pursue any economic policy significantly different from President Obama's agenda? Maybe her foreign policy would be a bit more hawkish, but Obama's set the bar pretty low in that category. Think her nominations to the Supreme Court, cabinet, or other nominees would be substantively different from Obama's?

She's the "more of the same" candidate in a depressed country. The Republican message will be pretty simple: If you elect her, nothing changes. Sure, she'll promise the moon. She'll probably even promise to run the most honest and transparent administration in history. She'll promise to stop taking massive amounts of money from foreign governments.

Our Brendan Bordelon: "In fact, Algeria and the Dominican Republic, which both contributed to the Clinton Foundation, receive hundreds of millions of dollars yearly in foreign aid — including from the U.S. government."

Neat system: Hillary directs massive amounts of taxpayer dollars to foreign governments, foreign governments turn around and give money to the Clinton Foundation . . .

Jeb Bush's Totally-Not-a-Presidential-Campaign Visits South Carolina

Today former Florida governor Jeb Bush begins a two-day swing through South Carolina with events in Greenville, Taylors, Cayce, and Columbia; tomorrow morning he wraps it up with an event in Myrtle Beach.

He begins the day with remarks to the Upstate Chamber Coalition at the

Embassy Suites Greenville Golf & Conference Center in Greenville at 8 a.m. Then he goes to the Hidden Treasure Christian School in Taylors at 9:45 a.m. Then he holds a press conference on domestic violence with South Carolina governor Nikki Haley at the Sistercare headquarters in Cayce at 2:45 p.m.

He wraps the day with a fundraiser for South Carolina House Republicans at the Hilton Columbia Center. Wednesday, he starts the day at the Horry County Republican Party Breakfast at the Rioz Brazilian Steakhouse in Myrtle Beach at 7:45 a.m.

Bush narrowly led three of the last four (exceptionally early) polls in South Carolina.

Improbable Victory: We Have Overcome Charlie Crist's Political Ambition

You have to credit Peter Hamby for this opening sentence:

So much for The Last Temptation of Crist.

Charlie Crist, the perma-tanned Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat who has sought nearly every statewide office of note in Florida, will not run for Senate in 2016, he said Monday.

'I will not be seeking office in 2016, but I will be working alongside you,' Crist wrote in a Facebook post. 'Too much is at stake for our beautiful Florida to be on the sidelines. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement.'

ADDENDA: Ah: "Federal authorities on Wednesday arrested the former president of the federal employees union at Birmingham's Veterans Affairs Hospital on charges she embezzled more than $132,000 from the local chapter."

But remember, right-to-work laws represent exploitation of working people! The president told us so!

www.NationalReview.com

Sail with National Review

Join your favorite writers for National Review's 2015 cruise to Alaska — a once in a lifetime opportunity for you and your family. Learn more here.

What National Review is reading — download your free copy today!

Agenda Setting: A Wise Giver's Guide to Influencing Public Policy
By John J. Miller and Karl Zinsmeister, with Ashley May

Love National Review online? Save 75% off the newsstand price and subscribe to National Review magazine — print or digital versions available!

Looking for the perfect gift for that special conservative in your life? Give the gift of National Review or shop the NR store!

To manage your National Review e-mail preferences or unsubscribe, click here, or to read our privacy policy, click here.

This e-mail was sent by:
National Review, Inc.
215 Lexington Avenue, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10016

Search This Blog

Diogenes-Light

Fifty Percent of Americans Say Hillary Is ‘Honest and Trustworthy’

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Megyn Kelly -> Pete Hegseth responds to 2017 rape accusation. 🔥

FOLLOW THE MONEY - Billionaire tied to Epstein scandal funneled large donations to Ramaswamy & Democrats

Readworthy: This month’s best biographies & memoirs