After an awkward and embarrassing drama involving Hilary Clinton's private e-mail and its contents, Clinton seems to be back on her feet. The incident did not seem to to have much of an impact on Clinton in the eyes of the public, as a CNN poll recently showed that she was "miles ahead of any potential Democratic challenger, and would beat all potential Republican candidates by at least 10 points." Clinton's approval ratings seem to be around 53%, and while this is the result of a slight decline, the timing coincides with her re-entry to partisan politics. This shows that the e-mail issue may not have altered the public's opinion of Clinton very much at all.
The poll also showed that only 1% of those who participated in the poll had never heard of Clinton. This is a testament to her visibility and exposure to the public, which at this point seems to be helping her where it could be potentially harming her. Her large voter population seems disinterested in stories such as the email scandal but more interested on Clinton's campaign and stance on more pertinent issues such as student loans. Young voters who may not remember past scandals in the Clinton family, and who supported Obama in past elections will be present as continual support for Clinton as well. Her loyal voters and great exposure seem to working hand in hand in Clinton's effort to move past the email scandal and focus on the future.
On the contrary, many republicans believe that the issue of the email makes Clinton look secretive and apt to blur the rules. I personally think that Clinton's ability to move past the scandal and not allow it to threaten or worry her to a great extent shows her perseverance and poise in the political light. While it may not have helped her, I believe it shows voters her focus and ambition to accomplish as much as possible as opposed to letting personal scandals get in the way and slow her down. What do you think? Will the email scandal harm Clinton's chances at a future election? Will it have a significant impact on her voters opinions of her? If so why?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/19/politics/hillary-clinton-election-2016-emails/index.html
7 comments:
Lily, though I have not been actively following Clinton’s email scandal, I doubt it will have much impact. Already, much of the public does not seem too perturbed by the scandal, and it is still fresh. Had Clinton had real challengers, the scandal might have caused more controversy, but for now, her nomination is safe. Similarly, while the scandal gave potential Republican nominee Jeb Bush a talking point, it also created scrutiny about his own use of private email while governor of Florida. While Republicans may have been hoping to deter the public from Hillary during the next election cycle, their strategy does not seem to have worked. Clinton’s official announcement of her campaigning will overshadow the news about the scandal, and by the time the primary season becomes active, the public will be focused on the general election and have totally forgotten about the scandal anyway. In my personal opinion, though I would love to have a woman president, I would not vote for Clinton. However, I was not going to vote for her even before her scandal broke. Thus, in a similar manner, I think it important to note that this one, relatively minor controversy will not drastically change public opinion. If conservatives really want to upset Clinton, they’ll have to find something equivalent to Monica Lewinsky, not just an email scandal.
Sources:
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/opinion-blog/2015/03/17/hillary-clinton-email-scandal-will-fade-but-still-have-a-lasting-impact
I agree with you Beatrix, this scandal won’t have much of an impact, clearly it didn’t alter her approval ratings too drastically and many don’t even know about what the scandal entailed. I don’t think this will do anything at all regarding her election, I think it will blow over and everyone will forget about it. Even with the slight drop in approval rating, Clinton has no opposition that is a significant threat to her winning the election yet, not even from her own party. I think Clinton in all honesty will become the next president unless the Republicans get a solid candidate that will pose a serious threat, until then she will have a great chance. Republicans will find an excuse whenever it comes to a “scandal” to make the candidate look bad, as well as the Democrats, it is just politics. But it is quite clear that it has not affected her chances and few are listening to Republicans
I believe this scandal will not have a huge impact overall. To the opposing party, yes it is a big deal, but to the public, they do not seem to really care. When it came to her husband’s scandal, the American people were almost offended that such a thing could happen, but since this did not really affect the public, they do not have as much emotion involved. In all honesty, I do not think this scandal will impact Clinton by dissuading her voter’s opinions of her. In this country there are many different types of voters, there are those that know most details, there are those who really know nothing more than the candidates, and there are also the voters that care only about the legislation or the person in general. And it appears that the people supporting Hilary Clinton do not care about her past indiscretions, they only care about what she wants to do for the future. By Clinton planning to help millions through her student loan stance, it will be hard to reduce her following. Also, considering this scandal occurred when she was the Secretary of State, it just does not seem relevant to the people because it happened so long ago. If this scandal had come to light when she still held up high powered positon, then maybe people’s reactions would be much more emotion filled and personal.
Considering Hilary Clinton has a fifty three percent approval rating after the email scandal news came to light, I would say she has a high chance of nomination. Hilary Clinton’s scandal occurred back when she was Secretary of State, but to people involved in the government this is seen as much more controversial than to the American public. By Clinton not using the government issued email address and also having deleted emails, it could mean she has something to hide, especially when it happened during such a scandal filled time. To the Republican Party, this email scandal shows that she should not be trusted, especially since her email could have been subjected to hackers and could have put America at risk. However, to the Democratic Party, because this incident has shown little to no decline in her popularity ratings, and her future goals seem promising, they will most likely continue to support her.
There is simply no denying the fact that Hillary CLinton as a candidate is the front runner for the democrats and possibly a future president. Regarding her email scandal, I believe it will blow over. Unfortunately challengers will have to use scandals like this to show to the public why she shouldn't be nominated. In that way I do believe that the email scandal will be brought up many times throughout her campaign trial. Recently HIllary Clinton gave her last paid speech to "thousands of professional camp counselors, whose trade group spent an estimated $200,000 to hear from the frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic nomination." This is her 'last paid speech' because she will most likely run for President and then begin self campaigning and promoting herself. Recently polls have shown that Democratic support for Hillary Clinton has actually decreased , however this is in the wake of the email scandal and they are believed to improve once HIllary starts to officially campaign. I believe that there is no denying that Hillary is a forced to be reckoned with and will defiantly serve as competition to any republican runner to the presidency.
Lily, I think this is an interesting topic. Like others have said, I don't think this will impact her chances too greatly. I also really agree with Sammy that the many different types of voters in this country make it possible for a scandal like this to not have a large impact. Personally, I think her using her own private email was very risky for the entire country, so I would definetely consider that when I decide who to vote for. As you pointed out in your blog, a large part of the public isn't influenced by her decision to use her own email, so this is just an example of the differences between voters that Sammy mentioned. I also think it is possible that this may become a bigger issue as the election gets closer becuase people may try to learn more about candidates before casting their votes. There is still a lot of time before the presidential election and people may not really be thinking about it too much right now. They may wait until it is closer to really start paying attention to everything. On the other hand, this story may just fade away more as time goes on, as many of you have suggested. In a USA Today article I read, Bob Beckel said that a poll found that 66 percent of Democrats did not feel differently about Hillary Clinton after this story about her email. This shows that she still has a very strong base supporting her despite this conflict and that her chances of winning are still good. Here is the link for the article I read: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/03/19/hillary-clinton-email-campaign-scandal-column/25040935/
I disagree with Beatrix as I believe that looking deeper into this scandal as well into hillary Clintons past scandals/coverups such as Benghazi, it shows her true character and gives the American people a taste of what she would be like and how she would act in a position such as the President of the United States of America. Although the email scandal did not blow up in the main stream media it is still a major deal in terms of national security whether or not the press says so. It is not only unprofessional but also dangerous and shows a lack of regard for the laws and the safety of her fellow Americans. I believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Hillary Clintons scandals while working under President Obama. As said earlier in one of the posts, I do not agree that Republicans will look for any excuse to attack a democratic candidate. In this case they are simply reporting the facts and making the American people aware of what is going on. Overall, it will be interesting to follow the progress of Hilary's campaign along with the republican challengers.
Lily-
I think this is a really important event that you have brought up because to some extent it brings to light the issue of lack of public awareness for politics and also people's disinterest in who is running their country overall. I find that the fact that this scandal didn't do any harm to Clinton's reputation fascinating because the matter of having her own personal server to communicate with people outside of government supervision tells me that she had some information to hide. Honestly, there is no reason that she should want to abstain from handing over all of her emails, as she is believed to be withholding certain emails. I find it shocking that people don't react to this more heavily. If she were to run, I would want a president that would be truthful and not have to hesitate to address the demands of her government. However,Considering Hilary Clinton has a 53 percent approval rating after the email scandal news came to light, I would say she still has a high chance of nomination. In my opinion, the public should be more wary of what scandals, even on small scales, could mean for the good of the country.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/19/politics/hillary-clinton-election-2016-emails/index.html
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