Two of out three Americans say Hillary Clinton is not honest and trustworthy, according to a recent poll by CBS News/The New York Times.
Taken in the wake of FBI director James Comey’s criticism of her conduct over the handling of her emails, the poll numbers represent a new high (or low) for the former Secretary of State.
The survey reveals that a strong majority of Americans say she did something wrong as it relates to the emails and her private server. Fully 69 percent of the American people think that her use of a private email server was either illegal (46 percent) or improper (23 percent). Only 24 percent of those surveyed said she did nothing wrong.
As the New York Times put it in an analysis of the data:
Mrs. Clinton’s shifting and inaccurate explanations of her email practices at the State Department appear to have resonated more deeply with the electorate…..The [FBI] investigation undercut many of Mrs. Clinton’s statements over the past 18 months to explain and defend her decision to rely on the private server at her home in Chappaqua.
This high level of distrust is reminiscent of Bill Clinton’s numbers shortly after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. A Washington Post poll revealed in late 1998 that 67 percent did not believe then-President Bill Clinton was “honest and trustworthy.”
On the question of voting preference, the CBS/NYT poll found Clinton and Trump in a dead heat: tied 40-40.