The good news for Hillary Clinton in Virginia is that she has the early, early, early lead over her potential Republican presidential rivals.
The not-so-good news: the race is closer than it was a couple of months ago, and you have to wonder if that’s not because of the email scandal that you can’t think will go away between now and November 2016.
“Ominous for Hillary Clinton is the broad scope of the movement today compared to her showing in Quinnipiac University’s mid-February survey. It isn’t just one or two Republicans who are stepping up; it’s virtually the entire GOP field that is running better against her,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
“That’s why it is difficult to see Secretary Clinton’s slippage as anything other than a further toll on her image from the furor over her email.”
Clinton does have leads over the main GOP rivals – at 49-39 over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 48-40 over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, 47-40 over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, 46-40 over New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and 47-43 over Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.
“Of the three states tested, Virginia seems to be the friendliest toward Hillary Clinton, perhaps a continuing reflection of the Old Dominion’s leftward drift over the past decade. Only yesterday, it seemed, it was deeply red,” Brown said.
Virginia voters surveyed by Quinnipiac give Clinton, the former First Lady, Democratic senator from New York and Secretary of State, a slight positive in favorability, with 48 percent of those surveyed giving her a positive rating, and 45 percent giving her a negative rating.
Just two of the Republicans measured had positive ratings with voters – Rubio at 29 percent positive and 25 percent negative, and Walker at 26 percent positive/20 percent negative – and both are just above or just below the 50 percent mark in terms of name recognition, so take those overall ratings with a grain of salt.
Voters in the Old Dominion do appear to be at least a little bit conflicted over the email scandal that has cast a pall on her time at the State Department. Fifty-one percent say the scandal is important to their vote, and 39 percent say the issue will make them less likely to vote for her, but a 51-46 majority say a congressional investigation into the scandal would be politically motivated.
A majority – 52 percent to 40 percent – say Clinton is not honest and trustworthy.
“Voters do think she is a strong leader – a key metric – but unless she can change the honesty perception, running as a competent but dishonest candidate has serious potential problems,” Brown said.
– Story by Chris Graham
Share
Chris Graham
