|
 Support for Clinton's candidacy has dropped about 15 percentage
points since mid February among Democrats, with as few as 45 percent
saying they would support her in the last week, according to a
Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll. Support from Democrats likely to vote
in the party nominating contests has dropped only slightly less, to
a low in the mid-50s over the same period.
Even Democrats who said they were not personally swayed one way or
another by the email flap said that Clinton could fare worse because
of it, if and when she launches her presidential campaign, a
separate Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.
Democratic strategist Ben LaBolt, a former spokesman for President
Barack Obama's 2012 campaign, said that the email controversy has
been a "galvanizing call for the Clinton campaign-in-waiting to
build an organization," by hiring top political communicators who
can defend her record. Clinton, who ran for the White House in 2008
and lost to Obama, is expected to announce as early as April that
she plans to seek the White House in 2016.
Former congressional and Justice Department spokesman Brian Fallon,
White House aide Jennifer Palmieri and Jesse Ferguson, who has
handled press for Democratic congressional campaigns, are expected
to be among the communications experts joining Clinton's campaign.
All three are highly respected in Democratic political circles.
“Democrats want to see Secretary Clinton work for the nomination,
but with the string of hires her campaign has announced in the early
(voting) states despite a weak field of competitors, every
indication is that she plans to,” LaBolt said.
The online poll of 2,128 adults from March 10 to March 17 revealed
that Americans, including two-thirds of Democrats, said they were
aware of the controversy surrounding Clinton's decision to use her
personal email rather than a government account, along with a
personal server, when she was the top U.S. diplomat from 2009 to
2013.
More than a third of Democrats and 44 percent of political
independents agreed that the email issue has hurt the former
secretary of state politically.
"I admire the fact that she has been so strong on a lot of different
things, she stands up for what she believes in, but I do think the
emails will hurt her, unfortunately," said Patricia Peacock, 49, of
Lewiston, Maine, who took part in the survey.
Clinton has tried to tamp down accusations that she used her
personal email account to keep her records from public review, which
would support an old political narrative that Clinton and her
husband, former President Bill Clinton, are secretive and seek to
play by a different set of rules.
Clinton told a packed room of reporters at the United Nations
earlier this month that she used her personal email for official
business for the sake of convenience, because it was easier to carry
only one device.
[to top of second column] |
Clinton's office said she has since turned over paper copies of more
than 30,000 work emails last year at the State Department's request,
but did not hand over about 32,000 that were private or personal
records.
The cache included 300 emails related to a 2012 attack on a U.S.
consulate in Benghazi that led to the death of a U.S. ambassador and
three other Americans, which were subsequently handed over to a
Republican-led congressional committee investigating the incident.
The panel has subpoenaed Clinton's remaining emails and said they
would like her to testify on the matter before April.
About half of the adults surveyed, including 46 percent of
Democrats, agreed there should be an independent review of all
Clinton's emails to ensure she turned over everything that is work
related.
More than half of Americans - and 41 percent of Democrats - said
they supported the Republican-controlled congressional committee's
effort to require Clinton to testify about the emails, the
Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.
About half of Democrats said they thought Clinton was composed
during the March 10 press conference, but 14 percent found her
evasive and 17 percent said she avoided answering questions
directly.
Survey respondent Tom Trevathan, 74, a retired math professor from
Arkansas, said he was "less than happy" with Clinton’s performance
at the news conference.
"It reminds me of a history she has had not responding thoroughly to
inquiries," Trevathan said. "If she would be more open about the
situation, and show more leadership in saying what she did and why,
I think it would be better."
To explore all the Reuters/Ipsos polling related to Hillary
Clinton’s emails:
http://polling.reuters.com/#!search/clinton%20emails
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington; editing by Andrew
Hay)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
