Politics Magazine
Hillary Clinton Is Not Tied To The Policies Of Barack Or Bill
Posted on the 03 June 2015 by JobsangerThe Republicans are trying hard to connect Hillary Clinton to the policies of the last two Democratic presidents (Barack Obama and Bill Clinton). I'm not sure why, since those presidents were both popular enough to be elected to two terms apiece. I suspect they hope that voters are unhappy enough with one or more policies of those presidents that they would vote against Hillary because of it.
I don't think that tactic would work, but it doesn't seem to matter. Most voters don't believe Hillary Clinton would follow the policies of either of those presidents. Only 34% think she would follow the policies of Barack Obama, and an even smaller 24% say she would follow the policies of Bill Clinton. Those numbers are small enough to include only die-hard Republicans (and we already knew they didn't like Hillary Clinton).
A significant majority of Americans, between 58% and 66%, believe Hillary Clinton is her own person -- and will create her own new policies. That speaks well of Clinton, and shows this silly GOP gambit is failing.
These numbers are from a new Washington Post / ABC News Poll -- done between May 28th and 31st of a random national sample of 1,001 adults with a margin of error of 3.5 points. The margin of error for Republicans only or Democrats only is 6 points.
The survey also asked registered Republicans and Democrats who they would support for their party's nomination for president. Those results are shown in the charts below. Suffice it to say that all the candidates of both parties (except for Hillary Clinton) probably find these numbers depressing..