CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
April 5, 2008 – 2:44 p.m.
Voter Doubts About Her Honesty Costing Clinton
By CQ Staff
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is being hobbled in her race to overtake Illinois Sen. Barack Obama by persistent questions among voters about her honesty, according to polls.
A new poll in North Carolina – which after the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, is the next big prize on the campaign trail - says a key element in Obama’s success is that the state’s voters value trust over experience. The survey for the Charlotte Observer/WCNC-TV reported that only 25 percent of voters gave high marks to Clinton for trustworthiness compared to 48 percent for Obama and 54 percent for Arizona Sen. John McCain . Nearly 9 in 10 voters said trust would be a major factor in deciding how they would vote.
Surveys in North Carolina have consistently shown Obama with a big lead over Clinton, and that was underscored again today in a new Rasmussen Reports poll. The poll, conducted April 3, says Obama’s lead over Clinton has now soared to 56 percent to 33 percent.
Rasmussen noted that one bit of bad news for Obama is that 56 percent of Clinton supporters said they would not be likely to vote for Obama in a race against McCain. The Charlotte Observer poll put that number lower, saying 20 percent of Clinton supporters would vote for McCain if Obama gets the nomination while 13 percent of Obama backers would do the same if Clinton is the nominee.
The Charlotte Observer poll was conducted as Clinton got caught up in news reports contradicting her account of once coming under sniper fire in Bosnia. The same doubts about Clinton’s honesty have surfaced in polls by Gallup and Pew Research
On the honesty issue, Rasmussen says 77 percent have followed news stories about Clinton’s misstatements about her Bosnia trip. Twenty-three percent say they are a “very important” issue while 25 percent say the issue is “somewhat important.” Sixty-three percent say that most politicians lie or embellish the truth when discussing their own accomplishments.
The Charlotte Observer poll also found:
• Two-thirds of voters give Obama high marks for his ability to connect with voters compared to a third who give McCain and Clinton high marks.
• Three-quarters give high marks to Obama for intelligence compared to the more than the two-thirds who gave his rivals high marks.
Comments
This is on top of the word coming, that Hillary is trying another attempt to undermine the party rules: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=4596305&page=1
I wonder if she knows she is not honest. When we lie to ourselves, we cannot really be truthful with anyone else. I am not saying that she IS lying to herself. But if I stayed with a husband who had his apparent problem, I would have to be a true saint or extremely persuasive to myself that some higher good is served. Maybe Dr. Phil knows.
Embellish, or misspeak? Have to admit the spins are getting more creative. The low down is it never happenned, call it what you want.
It maybe costing Clinton because the press crucified her over the Bosnia statements but let Obama's lies about Selma, Rezko, Ayers and Rev. Wright get swept under the rug. Clinton is as honest as any other politician. Maybe even more honest than Obama. Lot's of unanswered questions on Obama. The public should be asking questions about his honesty because he has not been honest about a lot of things.
I think people see what they want to see in regards to Mrs. Clinton. People who where actually in Bosnia on the ground when she visited say it was a war zone. The report was that the military was taking precautions. Bill's infidelity has nothing to do with her qualifications to be president and in fact, people who think so are blaming the wrong person. I'd be proud to have Hillary Clinton as my president.
Talk about honesty. When confronted, Hillary admitted, gave excuses and receiving more sniper fires from her opponents in America than was in Bosnia. When confronted on his pastor, Obama gave speeches and blamed the racist whites for his pastor's remarks. His own defense "I never heard such remarks" was a glaring lie infront of cameras and the press and yet, he is more honest. What an insult. Come on America, you must be dreaming to think politicians are absolute honest. But there is a mean - your own judgment derived from what you actually saw and heard minus the emotion of loves and likes.
Lying is not something to take lightly. Satan told the first lie and look where we're at today.
if Mrs. Clinton actually wins PA, then I will consider the votes from being full of misinformed voters or racist ones...especially when you have two candidates very similar on the handling of current issues. Please take away skin color, or gender out of this election, think it through.
Team Clinton should learn to pay their bills,before they try and get in the White House.......OBAMA 2008 ALL THE WAY
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