Salon editor Joan Walsh said Wednesday that people think Hillary Clinton "doesn’t care about them."
Walsh was reacting to a Quinnipiac University poll that shows Clinton trailing three Republican candidates in key swing states. The poll also confirmed what several earlier polls have found: A strong majority of voters do not find the Democratic candidate honest or trustworthy.
"The honesty and trust numbers, we’ve seen those before," Walsh said. "The thing is, people think she doesn’t care about them—that’s not good for her. So there are two or three things in there that aren’t good."
The Clinton campaign is attempting to portray its candidate as a warm and caring matriarch. This effort is at odds with the popular perception of Clinton as a Machiavellian and at times robotic technocrat.
The new Quinnipiac poll reveals:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is behind or on the wrong side of a too-close-to-call result in matchups with three leading Republican contenders, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in Colorado, Iowa and Virginia, according to a Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll released today.
Perhaps the biggest loser, however, is Donald Trump, who has negative favorability ratings of almost 2-1 in each state, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University Poll finds. The Swing State Poll focuses on key states in the presidential election.
In several matchups in Iowa and Colorado, another Democratic contender, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, runs as well as, or better than Clinton against Rubio, Bush and Walker. Vice President Joseph Biden does not do as well.
Clinton gets markedly negative favorability ratings in each state, 35 - 56 percent in Colorado, 33 - 56 percent in Iowa and 41 - 50 percent in Virginia.
The worst favorability ratings for any Democrat or Republican in the presidential field belong to Trump: 31 - 58 percent in Colorado, 32 - 57 percent in Iowa and 32 - 61 percent in Virginia.
"Hillary Clinton's numbers have dropped among voters in the key swing states of Colorado, Iowa and Virginia. She has lost ground in the horserace and on key questions about her honesty and leadership," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. "On being a strong leader, a key metric in presidential campaigns, she has dropped four to 10 points depending on the state and she is barely above 50 percent in each of the three states."