Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:19 am
Talk about failing. Poor John McCain might blow a gasket. After all of the time, money and energy Republicans put into attacking Hillary Clinton over Benghazi, it turns out America loves her best.
According to a new Quinnipiac poll, the former Secretary of State enjoys a 61 – 34 percent favorability rating among American voters.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Compare Clinton’s approval ratings with Republican Speaker John Boehner: The poll shows us 20 – 42 percent favorability for House Speaker John Boehner. How about the GOP’s new leader and alleged policy wonk, Paul Ryan? Not so hot: 34 – 36 percent for U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan.
Here’s a breakdown:
Ms. Clinton’s favorability is higher than those measured for other national figures:
46 – 41 percent for Vice President Joseph Biden;
25 – 29 percent for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, with 45 percent who don’t know enough about him to form an opinion;
20 – 42 percent for House Speaker John Boehner;
27 – 15 percent for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, with 57 percent who don’t know enough;
34 – 36 percent for U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan;
43 – 33 percent for new Secretary of State John Kerry;
14 – 18 percent for Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, with 67 percent who don’t know enough about him.
It should frighten Republicans that their 2016 Golden Ticket Senator Marco Rubio is at 27 – 15 percent for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, “with 57 percent who don’t know enough.” But then, not knowing a Republican well enough to have an opinion is actually a good thing these days. Rubio might want to keep it that way.
Perhaps they will take silly solace in the fact that while the President’s favorability is 51 – 46 percent, his job approval numbers have slipped back to what they were for much of his first term at split 46 – 45 percent. He was actually at a worse number in job approval in July of 2012, and he got re-elected. But math and polls are not the forte of our modern day Republicans. The President still enjoys a 51% personal favorability.
Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, analyzed the data, “Hillary Clinton ends her term as Secretary of State and the bruising inquiry into the Benghazi murders as easily the most popular actor on the American political stage today.”
We call that the Hillary surge.
And of course, since the Republicans were too busy using the Benghazi hearings to pre-emptively strike at Clinton, they never did get down to what should have been the real business of their investigation. But then they aren’t known for accepting responsibility for their actions. Leaking sensitive information and defunding our mission in Libya is just part of their big plan to paint Obama as a failure. Instead, it backfired on them.
Hillary Clinton is the most popular American politician, and there’s nothing Republicans can do about it.
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
