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Insight

4 brutal poll numbers greet Clinton at convention

Aaron Blake

By Aaron Blake The Washington Post

Published July 26, 2016

The Closing of the American Mouth

It's common for presidential candidates to get a bump from their conventions, and two new polls Monday suggest that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump did indeed get that.

But the new polls don't just show Trump's stock rising, however temporarily that may be. They also have some very bad news for the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and her already-declining personal image. Indeed, politically, she's doing as bad as she ever has, if not worse.

A caveat at the outset: The GOP convention was, as was to be expected, very anti-Clinton. There were chants of "lock her up" and plenty of accusations lodged against Clinton. So it's perhaps not surprising to see Clinton's numbers take a hit. But they have been steadily getting worse for months and are now basically worse than ever before.

Here are four key points:


1) 68 percent say Clinton isn't honest and trustworthy.

That's according to the CNN poll, and it's her worst number on record. It's also up from 65 percent earlier this month and 59 percent in May. The 30 percent who see Clinton as honest and trustworthy is now well shy of the number who say the same of Trump: 43 percent.

You heard that right: Trump -- he of the many, many Pinocchios -- now has a large lead on Clinton when it comes to honesty and trustworthiness.

The CBS poll, for what it's worth, has a similar number saying Clinton is dishonest: 67 percent.

2) Her image has never been worse.

CBS showed just 31 percent have favorable views of Clinton and 56 percent have unfavorable ones. Even in Trump's worst days on the campaign trail, he has rarely dipped below a 31 percent favorable rating. Clinton has hit that number a few times, but her negative-25 net favorable rating here is tied for the worst of her campaign, according to Huffington Post Pollster.

In the CNN poll, the 39 percent who say they have a favorable view of Clinton is lower than at any point in CNN's regular polling since April 1992, when she wasn't even first lady yet. Back then, the reason just 38 percent of people liked her was because many were unfamiliar with her. At the time, 39 percent were unfavorable and 23 percent had no opinion.

Clinton's favorable rating in the CNN poll is currently 16 points net-negative. That's unprecedented in the dozens of CNN polls on her since 1992.

Gallup's new numbers on Monday -- 38 percent favorable and 57 percent unfavorable -- are also unprecedented over the course of Clinton's political career.

This also appears to be the first time ever that Clinton's image measures worse than Trump's. It does so in both polls.

3) Just 38 percent would be "proud" to have her as president

That's down from 55 percent in March 2015. Sixty percent say they would not be proud.

On this measure, she's basically on the same footing as Trump, whom 39 percent would be proud of and 59 percent wouldn't be.

4) Nearly half of Democratic primary voters still want Bernie Sanders.

Clinton dispatched with Sanders and now has his endorsement, but despite 9 in 10 consistent Sanders supporters saying they'll vote Clinton in November, many of them still pine for their first love.

The CNN poll, in fact, shows 45 percent of those who voted in Democratic primaries still say they wish it was the Vermont senator. Just 49 percent say they prefer Clinton, down from 55 percent a month ago.


Previously:


07/19/16 The continuing political decline of Hillary Clinton
07/11/16 In bashing Donald Trump, some say Justice Ginsburg just crossed an important line
07/06/16 'Extremely careless,' and 7 other big quotes from the FBI's findings on Clinton's emails
06/20/16 How the Orlando attack showed the potential of an October Surprise
05/06/16 Donald Trump's day of many contradictions
03/10/16 How Donald Trump can still be stopped, according to the folks in charge of doing it
03/07/16 Winners and losers from 'Super Saturday'
03/03/16 Colbert nails it --- Christie looked like 'the best man at a wedding he didn't believe in'
02/10/16 Don't assume Hillary will start winning again after New Hampshire
02/08/16 Winners and losers from the New Hampshire Republican debate

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