Support for Hillary Clinton eroding among eligible Democratic voters

"She's pretty much a run-of-the-mill Democrat," one said, "I don't know that there's anything special about her"

Published July 16, 2015 4:28PM (EDT)

  (AP/Richard Shiro)
(AP/Richard Shiro)

According to a new Associated Press-GfK poll, Hillary Clinton's support among Democrats is declining precipitously compared to where she stood only three months ago.

Since April, her favorability rating among eligible voters has dropped by eight points. Among eligible Democratic voters, the decline was even more steep -- coming in at 11 percent -- and almost a quarter of them say they now view Clinton in an unfavorable light.

"I use to like her, but I don't trust her," Donald Walters told the Associated Press. "Ever since she's announced her candidacy for the presidency I just haven't liked the way she's handled things. She doesn't answer questions directly."

Many of the people surveyed consider her a generic Democratic candidate, one who will be incapable of generating the emotional response that lifted President Barack Obama into the White House. "She's pretty much a run-of-the-mill Democrat," Mark Oldenburg told the Associated Press. "I don't know that there's anything particularly special about her."

Stephanie Bergholdo agreed, saying that Clinton's "piggybacking on some of the things [Senators Bernie Sander and Elizabeth Warren have] been talking about. I don't think she comes across very genuine. She just seems a little stiff to me."

The Associated Press admitted that this downturn may simply be the result of a difference in survey sampling, as opposed to a harbinger of a failed run for the White House, because her performance wasn't unique -- all of the Republicans shared what the Associated Press called her "underwater approval ratings." Most notably, former Florida governor Jeb Bush saw his unfavorability rating rise to 44 percent, up 8 points since April.


By Scott Eric Kaufman

MORE FROM Scott Eric Kaufman


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