The New York Times report exposing Marco Rubio’s finances just might help the Republican candidate on his road to 2016.
According to a recent YouGov/Huffington Post survey, American voters are more likely to see a presidential candidate’s personal debt as a positive than they are a candidate’s personal wealth.
Specifically, 28 percent of U.S. adults believe having been personally in debt is a positive characteristic for a 2016 contender, whereas only 22 percent deem it a negative. On the contrary, only 12 percent say being personally wealthy is a positive attribute for a candidate, while 22 percent view it as a negative.
As such, these statistics are not an optimistic indication of the impact Hillary Clinton’s mass amounts of money will have on her own White House campaign.
However, large shares of Americans don’t believe either characteristic truly makes a difference; Forty percent say so of personal debt, and 58 percent of personal wealth.
And, while 29 percent believe a candidate’s personal finances are very relevant to his or her ability to handle economic issues as president, an even stronger share — 44 percent — view a presidential contender’s financial situation as very relevant to his or her ability to understand problems of average Americans.
Unfortunately for Clinton, this suggests that when low-wage workers hear the former secretary of state vowing to be their “champion” amid reports that she and her husband have accumulated $25 million delivering paid speeches in 16 months, they likely will discount her ability to understand their problems.
Rubio, on the other hand, can milk the fact that he has struggled with student debt. What better way to appeal to 2015 college graduates, who make up the most indebted class in history.
The YouGov/Huffington Post survey was conducted between June 10 and 12 and involved 1,000 American adults.
