Poll: Clinton’s Image and Standing in Battleground States

WASHINGTON, DC—Today Crossroads GPS released a memorandum describing results of a new national battleground poll that show Hillary Clinton narrowly trailing a generic Republican nominee for president and winning women voters by a scant two percentage points.

The Crossroads GPS survey, conducted on March 22-26 in 15 “battleground” states before Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy, analyzed a variety of issues and trends that are on Americans’ minds.  The poll also asked about respondents’ perceptions of Clinton.

The poll found surprising weaknesses in Clinton’s image and support.  Fully 95% of voters are aware of Clinton and have an opinion of her, and that opinion is already polarized (49% favorable | 46% unfavorable).  When respondents were given both positive and negative information about Clinton, her image worsened by a net 10 points. 

Clinton runs behind a generic GOP presidential nominee (43% Clinton | 44% Republican nominee), with 37% of those who chose the Republican candidate saying their vote was “a vote against Hillary Clinton.”  Even among women voters – presumed to be a bulwark of strength for Clinton – she runs only 2 points ahead of a generic GOP nominee.  And contrary to one of the core rationales for her candidacy, eight in ten voters say that Clinton becoming the first woman president “makes no difference” in their support or opposition to her candidacy.

Among the most potent concerns Americans have about Clinton are her “record of scandals” and poor management of the State Department, including the Benghazi embassy attack.  Fewer than half of all battleground state voters believe Clinton “shares [their] values” and “is honest and trustworthy.”

“Although we’ve got a lot of work to do, these results show that Hillary Clinton has severe problems, even with voters she’s counting on,” said Steven Law, president of American Crossroads.  “A staged van tour can’t erase the legacy of scandals and luxury lifestyle that are ingrained in Americans’ view of who Hillary really is.”

The survey was conducted by Axis Research and Public Opinion Strategies from March 22-26, with 1,003 likely 2016 general election voters distributed proportionate to voters in the battleground states of AR, CO, FL, NV, IL, IA, MI, NH, NM, NC, OH, PA, VA, WI and WV.  The margin of error is +/-3.16%.