Former President Bill Clinton’s favorability rating has taken a beating, in part because of national partisanship driven by his wife’s candidacy for president, and also as opponents have begun reminding voters that while in office he cheated repeatedly with a former intern.
Bill Clinton is still the more popular half, but his popularity has dropped recently. https://t.co/fN4V5yqvOg pic.twitter.com/27GOLPI475
— YouGovUS (@YouGovUS) January 18, 2016
In its latest survey, YouGov.com said that Clinton’s favorability rating has dropped to 53 percent, with 44 percent having an unfavorable opinion of the Democrat and husband of Hillary Clinton.
They attribute the drop to recent stories about Clinton and especially the fact that he is married to the current Democratic frontrunner.
“The latest YouGov poll suggests that even he may be tarnished, though it is not necessarily because of recent reminders of the sex scandals before and during the Clinton presidency. It may be more because of the impact of partisan polarization in this election cycle, as his wife, Hillary Clinton, campaigns for the 2016 Democratic nomination,” said the analysis.
For whatever reason, the poll analysis points out that the fall has been huge among independent voters, the key group Hillary Clinton is reaching out to in her presidential campaign.
“Independents have shifted the most: in August 2014 opinion of the former president from independents was favorable, 59 percent to 34 percent. Now independents are divided, with 44 percent favorable and 46 percent not favorable,” said the survey.
However, across all groups surveyed, Americans like Bill better than Hillary. And he remains the second most popular former president, behind Ronald Reagan.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
