Just a few months ago, Hillary Clinton was assumed as the shoo-in candidate to be the first woman to sweep the Democratic nomination for president. But her campaign has hit a few roadblocks.
Clinton points to her experience and background as her biggest strengths. After she and her husband, Bill Clinton, left the White House in 2001, Hillary ran for a U.S. Senate seat in New York and helped push bills like No Child Left Behind. In 2008, she ran for the top political job, only to lose to then-junior Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill). A few months later, she served Obama as the third female secretary of state.
Her history and reputation, as well as her appeal as a strong female candidate, must make her an easy choice, right? Maybe not. Since Clinton announced her run in June, she’s been fighting battles on multiple fronts, from her infamous email scandal to fervorous Republicans grilling her about the 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi when she was secretary of state.
These attacks on Clinton have bruised her once-roaring popularity, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll. And some within her own party, like increasingly popular Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), have emerged as challengers and are giving Clinton a run for her money. She may still be regarded by many as the presumptive Democratic nominee, but the biggest hurdle she now faces is refocusing attention on her campaign instead of the emails hurting her reputation.
What exactly is up with the “email scandal”?
Long story short, Clinton, throughout her tenure as the top U.S. diplomat, used her now infamous personal email account to conduct official business. Her use of the account first became a bone of contention when her critics, especially Republicans, were grilling her for the 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya. When a congressional select committee on Benghazi requested records from the State Department, officials realized there were no records from Clinton’s official department email.
In December 2014, Clinton released 50,000 pages of communications sent and received from her personal email — 188 of the emails include material that are now classified, according to the Washington Post. Her critics are using the email scandal to claim she is untrustworthy. Those attacks seem to be working, at least for now — a Quinnipiac University poll found that 57 percent of voters believe she is dishonest.
Since the issue erupted into national view, Clinton has come out swinging against the allegations of her breaking the law, and told NBC News that her use of the email was “allowed.” Still, the issue remains the biggest headache for Clinton’s campaign as she struggles to shift the spotlight away from the emails to her policies.
What are her ideas for the presidency?
The Clinton camp has put forth a simple, populist message. One of her key points is economic growth and tackling the rise of income inequality. Her platform includes plans to provide tax relief for working families, raising the minimum wage, investing in infrastructure and protecting workers’ rights to unionize. She also proposed to dramatically increase capital-gains tax and promised to rein in big banks by protecting federal regulations.
Clinton has aligned herself with many of the Democratic favorites. She is running as an ardent defender of LGBT rights and marriage equality, though she was opposed to same-sex marriage as a senator and as a presidential candidate in 2008. Before she officially stated her support for same-sex marriage in 2013, Clinton supported civil unions and the states’ rights to define marriage.
Clinton supports the Affordable Care Act and wants to take it a step further by negotiating with drug companies for cheaper medication. As first lady over a decade ago, she helped push universal health care into the national conversation, albeit the effort was eventually doomed.
She’s also got a big plan to make college more affordable. Clinton’s plan seeks to make low-interest student loans more available and give states incentives to provide “no-loan tuition” at public colleges and universities. Her plan would cost $350 billion over 10 years. Clinton also promised to continue Obama’s free community college plan. Critics like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is running for the Republican nomination, called the plan “irresponsible.”
She was secretary of state, wasn’t she? What about her foreign policy?
Right. Clinton is proud of her tenure at the State Department and her role in pushing harsher sanctions on Iran, which she says helped nudge Iran towards discussing its nuclear program. As Politico put it, Clinton is branding herself as “Obama Plus” when it comes to foreign policy — with a touch of her “I’m-wise-and-tougher-than-him” 2008 primary message.
On combating the Islamic State, she is opposed to deploying American troops and more in favor of supporting regional forces to combat extremist groups. In an interview with the Atlantic, she criticized the Obama administration’s “failure” to help moderate rebel groups in Syria — which she claims has ultimately left a “big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled.”
During her time as senator, however, she voted in favor of both the Iraq War and the USA PATRIOT Act, which vastly expanded the federal government’s powers to collect data in the name of national security. Clinton has since declared her vote on Iraq a “mistake,” and called for increased transparency from the NSA.
What do people think of her?
With her latest emails dominating political headlines, Clinton’s approval ratings are at an all-time low since her husband Bill’s 1992 run for president, according to a recent Gallup poll. More surprising numbers are in New Hampshire, where Clinton lags behind Bernie Sanders, who is long considered an underdog in the race, by 9 points.
When you just look at the polls, you might surmise that Clinton’s campaign is looking like 2008, but it’s still too early to call the emails alone a fatal blow. Also take into account that her views are more centered than Sanders’ — the closest rival to her in the Democratic primary — and would likely perform better in the general election. And at least for now, she is more favorable than many Republicans, beating some of them by double digits.
So, more than likely, Clinton will snag the Democratic nomination and go up against the Republican counterpart. The trick is cutting through all the email chatter and getting her policies out there. There’s still time for the campaign to take control of the spotlight, but a prolonged distraction from the actual campaign could spell a more disastrous perception problem.
More Info:
Wall Street Journal: Hillary Clinton’s Long Road to Supporting Gay Marriage
The New Yorker: Hillary Clinton Goes Populist — Up To a Point
Gistory: Bernie Sanders: The Old Underdog
