Hillary Clinton Is Losing Popularity Among Those Who Voted for Her, New Poll Shows

  The crowd at a Hillary Clinton campaign rally in Phoenix, Ariz. on October 20, 2016. (Gage Skidmore / CC 2.0)

A new Bloomberg National Poll shows that Hillary Clinton is viewed favorably by just 39 percent of Americans, perhaps reflecting a growing nationwide discontent with establishment Democrats. Bloomberg adds that her support has also dropped among those who voted for her in the 2016 presidential election, and includes statements from numerous Clinton voters who express their dissatisfaction with the former secretary of state.

“[T]heir comments often reflected the ongoing angst among Democrats about how best to position themselves against Trump and Republicans in 2018 and beyond,” Bloomberg states. “Many said they wished Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont had won the Democratic nomination, or that they never liked Clinton and only voted for her because she was the lesser of two bad choices.”

It continues:

More than a fifth of Clinton voters say they have an unfavorable view of her. By comparison, just 8 percent of likely Clinton voters felt that way in the final Bloomberg poll before the election, and just 6 percent of Trump’s voters now say they view him unfavorably. ...

As was the case throughout the campaign, Clinton suffers from gender and racial gaps. Just 35 percent of men hold a favorable view of her, compared to 43 percent of women. And just 32 percent of whites like her, while 51 percent of non-whites do. ...

The telephone poll of 1,001 American adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, higher among subgroups. It was conducted July 8-12 by Iowa-based Selzer & Co.

Clinton’s polling numbers are slightly worse than those of President Trump—according to another recent Bloomberg poll, Trump’s approval is at “a new low” of 40 percent. Other recent polls, however, find his support to be as low or even lower than Clinton’s.

The outlet goes on to quote numerous Clinton voters:

“I felt like there was a smugness and that she was just a politician who was called a Democrat, but could have been a Republican,” said poll participant Robert Taylor, 46, a second-grade teacher from suburban Chicago who voted for Clinton, but would have preferred Sanders as the Democratic nominee.

Even before the election, Taylor said he felt negatively about Clinton, but he doesn’t blame her for Trump being president.

“I could vote for a competent leader or I could vote for a jackass,” he said of his choices. “I think my negativity about her would be there whether Trump was elected or not.”

Ray Cowart, 75, the retired owner of a small software company from Elk Park, North Carolina, said he voted for Clinton even though he didn’t like her because “she was the better of two bad options.”

Asked who he would rather have a beer with if neither one of them was president, Cowart said he’d rather stay home. “I wouldn’t go, even if I was thirsty,” he said.

However, pollster J. Ann Selzer, who oversaw the survey, doesn’t think Clinton’s low popularity reflects discontent with the party as a whole. “There’s growing discontent with Hillary Clinton even as she has largely stayed out of the spotlight,” Selzer told Bloomberg. “It’s not a pox on the Democratic house because numbers for other Democrats are good.”

Read more here.

—Posted by Emma Niles