Support for Hillary Clinton is Waning

FIX THIS NATION / Breaking News

According to a new online poll from Reuters, the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email account is hurting her standing among Democrats. While Clinton’s numbers remain high, support for her candidacy has dropped a full 15 points since February. Only 45 percent of Democrats now say they would support her bid for the White House. A third of Democrats surveyed say that the scandal has hurt the former Secretary of State politically. 

These numbers have to worry those inside the Hillary campaign, but they must be even more frightening for the DNC. They have literally put all of their eggs in one basket this time around. There is not a single other viable Democratic contender who has made even the slightest murmur about running. Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders have mentioned making a bid for the White House, but they are nothing to be concerned with. We have a better chance of watching Donald Trump take the oath of office in 2017 than Sanders, and Biden is a walking gaffe-machine. Unless someone can convince Elizabeth Warren to change her mind, Democrats are stuck with Clinton.

It’s not clear whether her still-strong numbers are a result of passionate support or a lack of choices. Without a viable alternative, there’s no way to know. The media has made a lot of hay out of her strong polling, but what does it really prove? It’s Hillary or no one. It’s Hillary or a Republican. And Democrats would probably rather see Obama issue an executive order giving himself a third term in office than support a Republican for president. Come to think of it, that could still happen.

Unless the DNC jumps ship, this will come down to how well Hillary can survive the scandal. So far, indications are that she is not prepared. Known for playing her cards close to the vest, she is not inclined to explain herself to the American people. Her speech at the UN last week was hardly sufficient. Nothing will satisfy her critics other than turning over the server itself to an independent investigation, and she has already said that is something she is unwilling to do. Therefore, we are left to simply trust her when she says there was nothing worth reading in the 30,000 emails she deleted. Just recipes and yoga tips. But we’ll never know for sure.

And it’s that uncertainty that is leading to the softening numbers. Democrats are as sick of scandal as Republicans, and scandal follows the Clintons like winter follows autumn. They are without morals, seeking power with the zeal of desperation. Whether what they do with that power is beneficial to the country or not is a matter of opinion, but even the Clinton Fan Club wishes his presidency had been a little cleaner. A little less fraught with questions. You don’t hear the name Monica Lewinsky too often anymore, but those of us who lived through that dark period of American politics remember. Do we really want to go back there?

If the polls are anything to go by, an increasing number of Democrats do not.

• 
  
• 10