Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Bernie Sanders was supposed to be a fringe socialist candidate for the Democratic nomination… at best, a footnote in the history of the 2016 presidential campaign. But a series of Hillary Clinton gaffes and the ongoing Clinton email scandal have made Sanders a serious contender in early primary states.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont continues to tighten the race with Hillary Rodham Clinton in New Hampshire, according to a poll released on Tuesday.
The WMUR Granite State poll found that 42 percent of likely Democratic primary voters said they would vote for Mrs. Clinton, while 36 percent said they supported Mr. Sanders. The survey considers that gap to be a statistical tie, but it shows that Mr. Sanders continues to show strength after months of negative publicity about Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state.
The poll also found that Mr. Sanders is the most popular Democratic candidate in the state in terms of favorability, with a rating of 59 percent. That tops Mrs. Clinton’s 54 percent.
Clinton still has time to turn her campaign around, but the question remains: is her brand already damaged beyond repair? A CNN poll in June found that 57% of Americans don’t believe she is honest. A Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll conducted the same month found that 51% of Florida voters hold the negative view of Clinton, while 53% of voters in Ohio and 54% of voters in Pennsylvania find her to be dishonest and untrustworthy.
For U.S. voters, actions speak louder than words, and Hillary Clinton has a lot of questions yet to answer about her tenure in the State Department.