Subject: Hillary Clinton’s honesty problem just keeps getting worse - The Washington Post
From: "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Alexander S. Mackler" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2015 22:47:43 -0400

Hillary Clinton’s honesty problem just keeps getting worse - The Washington
Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/20/yes-its-a-major-problem-that-two-thirds-of-voters-dont-think-hillary-clinton-is-honest-or-trustworthy/?postshare=1261440124596725

Hillary Clinton’s honesty problem just keeps getting worse

Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton delivers remarks during a campaign stop at Dr. William U.
Pearson Community Center on August 18, 2015 in North Las Vegas, Nevada.
(Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton and her surrogates have spent lots of time over the past
few days making the case that everything is going perfectly according to
plan with her 2016 presidential campaign. They are exactly where they want
to be, to hear them tell it, and nothing that has happened to date -- not
the rise of Bernie Sanders, not her ongoing problems with maintaining a
private e-mail server -- has surprised them. Nothing at all.

In fact, the only people talking about Clinton's problems, which don't
really exist, are in the media -- who are bored (because it's August and a
slow news time) and, therefore, are looking to create a narrative based on
an inaccurate reading of polls.

To wit, Hillary communications director Jennifer Palmieiri said this in an
interview with NBC's Luke Russert on Wednesday
<https://twitter.com/TheFix/status/634033690448818176>:

Okay. Except, not really.  While Clinton's remains comfortably ahead
nationally and -- as James Carville helpfully notes
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/19/james-carville-thinks-i-am-an-idiot-when-it-comes-to-hillary-clinton/>
-- is viewed more favorably than any of her potential Republican opponents,
there is significant evidence of trouble brewing for her.

Check out new polling by Quinnipiac University in Florida, Ohio and
Pennsylvania
<http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/2016-presidential-swing-state-polls/release-detail?ReleaseID=2271>
-- the three biggest swing(ish) states in the country.  Scroll all the way
down to question #46, which asks, "Would you say that Hillary Clinton is
honest and trustworthy or not?"

Thirty-two percent of respondents in Florida and Pennsylvania said she was;
34 percent of Ohioans said so.  Just in case that's too much math for you:
Only* one in three voters* in the three largest swing states in the country
think that the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nomination is
honest and trustworthy.

But wait, you say!  Context matters. I bet those same voters trust the
Republican frontrunners even less!

Except, again, no.

The only Republican candidate with honest/trustworthy numbers like Clinton
is Donald Trump. And, Trump's numbers are still not as bad as Clinton's.
His lowest score on the honest/trustworthy measure is in Ohio where just 37
percent of voters say those words describe him.  When compared to someone
like Jeb Bush on the honest/trustworthy question, Clinton's numbers are
anemic. Sixty-four percent of Floridians say Bush is honest and trustworthy
-- perhaps not surprising given that he was the governor of the state for
eight years But 54 percent of voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania say the same.

Clinton's problems on the honest/trustworthy question go even deeper -- as
this great chart from Philip Bump reveals
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/20/donald-trump-is-a-legit-candidate-these-new-polls-prove-it/>
.

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/20/donald-trump-is-a-legit-candidate-these-new-polls-prove-it/>
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/20/donald-trump-is-a-legit-candidate-these-new-polls-prove-it/>

What the chart suggests is that the focus on Clinton's e-mail server has
made more people see her as not trustworthy. Yes, it's of course possible
that Clinton's dip on the question has nothing to do with the e-mail
controversy. But, the correlation between when the e-mail story broke into
the national news (March) and the drop in Clinton's numbers seems
relatively strong.

Might voters not care as much about electing an honest and trustworthy
president as I think? Sure. The 2016 election could be solely a referendum
on competence, and Clinton's resume might be enough for voters to elect her.

But I doubt it. A lot. If you don't fundamentally trust someone or believe
they are, at root, honest, then how would you justify putting the controls
of the country in their hands for at least four years?

Clinton's growing problems on the honest/trustworthy questions speaks to
why the e-mail story is so bad for her. It affirms some of the negative
stereotypes that people already had about her  -- thinks the laws don't
apply to her, surrounds herself with people who enable her, etc. -- and
reminds potential voters of what they would be getting (on the negative
side) if she is elected president.

Clinton needs to find a way to put the story behind her ASAP. Otherwise she
may find herself in a place on the honest/trustworthy question from which
she may not be able to recover.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton responded to reporters in
Las Vegas on Tuesday over the controversy surrounding her personal e-mail
server. Clinton reiterated that she did not send or receive any classified
material from her personal account. (AP)

Eric D. Schwerin
[email-masked]

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