Hillary Clinton’s approval rating has plummeted among Americans, including Democrats, as more voters do not think she is compassionate or honest.
A new AP/Gfk poll found that only 39 percent of Americans view Clinton favorably and nearly half of Americans “say they have a negative opinion of her.” Clinton’s favorability rating among Democrats has dropped 11 points since April, as only seven in 10 Democrats view Clinton favorably, compared to a quarter of Democrats who “now say they see Clinton in an unfavorable light.”
More troubling for Clinton is that only 4 in 10 voters in the poll viewed Clinton as “compassionate” and just 3 in 10 thought Clinton was “honest.”
In the 2012 presidential election, President Barack Obama trounced (81%-18%) Mitt Romney on the question of which candidate “cares about people like me,” which is one of the most important factors voters consider in voting for president. Clinton has repeatedly claimed on the campaign trail that she will be a champion for “everyday Americans,” but voters are not buying it.
Voters also do not see Clinton as someone who is “inspiring” or “decisive,” two more qualities that they often want in a president. The poll found that “the percentage of respondents calling Clinton at least somewhat inspiring also slipped from 44 percent to 37 percent” and the number of voters who believe Clinton is “at least somewhat decisive” fell to 47%, dropping nine points since April.
Clinton has been dogged by her use of a private email account and server while Secretary of State and the numerous pay-to-play scandals involving her family’s Clinton Foundation. And her inability to give a straight answer to even the most basic question is turning off voters. Clinton’s “honest and trustworthy” rating started to plummet in nearly every state and national poll after the publication of Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large and Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer’s Clinton Cash, which overshadowed her initial presidential launch in April.
Stephanie Bergholdo, a California Democrat, participated in the poll and said, “I don’t think she comes across very genuine. She just seems a little stiff to me.”
Donald Waters, another participant in the poll, told the Associated Press that, “I used to like her, but I don’t trust her.”
“Ever since she’s announced her candidacy for the presidency I just haven’t liked the way she’s handled things,” Waters said. “She doesn’t answer questions directly.”
The AP-GfK poll was conducted Thursday to Monday and has a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points.
