Hillary Clinton emails are not going anywhere in spite of the Democratic frontrunner and her rival Bernie Sanders’ best efforts to kill the topic at the Democratic debate Tuesday night.
The moment made for one of the most compelling when Sanders said, to much applause, that the American people were “tired of hearing about your d*** emails.”
However, a Washington Post piece on Wednesday told a different story . Americans not tired of hearing about the Hillary Clinton emails, and it’s not just Republicans who are dissatisfied with Clinton’s defense thus far.
Not relying simply on one poll to prove the point, WashPo ‘s Philip Bump pointed out how this issue could be a significant problem for Clinton as she (presumably) moves out of primary season and into the actual race for President.
One area where Sanders was right, Bump notes, was on the topic of Democrats being sick and tired of the Hillary Clinton emails, but it became another story entirely when other voters were polled on the matter. The interest in the truth about Hillary’s emails has only grown from March to September as an FBI investigation began and virtually every defense the former First Lady and Secretary of State offered faced contradictions to the facts.
When asking the question of whether Hillary Clinton emails were a “legitimate campaign issue,” more than 70 percent of Republicans and around 50 percent of Independents said that it was, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll referenced in Bump’s piece.
When asked whether Clinton’s responses on the email issue were satisfactory, 50 percent of respondents in a CBS News/New York Times poll (also referenced) said they were “mostly unsatisfied” compared to 32 percent who were “mostly satisfied.” This poll, conducted in September, represented a 10 percent jump in the number of “mostly unsatisfied” responses since March 2015.
The most concerning poll, however, came from CNN/ORC , which posed the question, “Do you think Clinton did anything wrong on emails?”
In August, a staggering 56 percent of all respondents said she had compared to just 39 percent, who thought otherwise.
Sanders’ attempt to flippantly dismiss Hillary Clinton emails as a campaign issue works for now — since it’s the Democratic vote he’s going after — but once you get past that, it becomes quite concerning, especially since most candidates — Democrat or Republican — still need the Independent vote in order to win the White House.
If Democrats are hoping last night’s soundbite was the end of this issue — or if they’re thinking it was a great “Gotcha” moment to the Republican Party — they could be setting themselves up for serious disappointment next November.
Perhaps worst of all, the FBI investigation isn’t even close to being concluded and amid revelations that Hillary’s email server was vulnerable to low-level hackers, it’s going to be tough to mount a defense when the gloves come off, and Donald Trump the Republican nominee comes out swinging during campaign season.
The time to mount a viable defense, and for that matter a table-turning offense against Clinton, was last night.
Instead, Sanders and the other Democratic candidates threw away their chances to hit her where she was vulnerable while showing themselves unworthy of the Independent vote.
The way Bernie and company behaved came across as if they were jockeying for a VP/Cabinet nod in her administration.
Moderate Republicans, Libertarians, and Independents likely saw through it, but it will take more direct polling to know for certain.
But what do you think, readers? Does she have the nomination/presidency locked down already, or are the Hillary Clinton emails going to be her potential undoing? Sound off in the comments section below.
[Image via Marianne Campolongo / Shutterstock.com ]