Poll: Hillary Clinton Weakens on Trustworthiness While Jeb …

Weakening ratings for Hillary Clinton present opportunities for her potential Republican opponents, even as their own contest morphs into an all-out free-for-all, with Jeb Bush surrendering his frontrunner status in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

While still far ahead for her partys nomination, Clinton faces challenges. Shes slipped underwater in personal favorability for the first time since her unsuccessful run for the presidency in 2008. Shes deeper in the hole for honesty and trustworthiness down 5 points in just two months and 12 points in the last year. And Americans by 17- to 24-point margins disapprove of her handling of recent questions on her use of personal e-mail while secretary of state, her handling of the Benghazi attack in Libya and fundraising by her familys foundation.

See PDF with full results, charts and tables here.

Indeed, while Bush has lost ground in the contest for the GOP nomination, Clinton does less well against him in a head-to-head matchup. The gap between them has closed from 12 points to three 47-44 percent, Clinton-Bush, among registered voters, vs. 53-41 percent two months ago.

Bush, at the same time, has even greater difficulties with personal favorability than Clinton, and a far weaker home base. Hes lost 11 points in support for the nomination among Republicans and GOP-leaning independents who are registered to vote, from a front-running 21 percent in March to 10 percent now, smack alongside Scott Walker and Rand Paul (11 percent apiece) and Marco Rubio (10 percent). Mike Huckabee has 9 percent support, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson, 8 percent each.

Bushs decline has come among Republicans (as opposed to GOP-leaning independents) and evangelicals groups with high turnout in GOP primaries and caucuses as well as among moderates. His difficulties include baggage from his brothers administration; the public by an 18-point margin disapproves of how hes answered questions about whether he would have ordered the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. And 55 percent of Americans see Bush as out of touch with the concerns of average Americans a greater weakness for him than this measure is for Clinton.

That said, the questions facing Clinton particularly regarding Benghazi and her foundations fundraising are more apt than a hypothetical Iraq do-over to be seen as legitimate issues in the 2016 campaign. Her decline vs. Bush among registered voters, from 53 percent in March to 47 percent now, is a significant one.

The churn in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, is fascinating: A weaker result for Bush in his base, a better result for him against Clinton. Add to that one more finding: Whatever their current positions, were it a Bush-Clinton matchup, the public by 55-39 percent thinks Clinton would win.

Bush, of course, hasnt even announced his candidacy; hes expected to do so later this month. Among those who are in the race, its Rubio whos shown the most movement up 7 points in personal favorability, down 7 in unfavorable views, since the last ABC/Post poll completed March 29. His 10 percent support for the nomination, while underwhelming in real terms, is numerically his highest in ABC/Post polls in the past year.

Rubio also has the distinction of being the only one of nine potential GOP candidates tested for favorability in this poll whos not underwater in this most basic measure of popularity. But he has fairly low recognition overall 31-31 percent, favorable-unfavorable, with the rest up in the air.

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Poll: Hillary Clinton Weakens on Trustworthiness While Jeb ...

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