Hillary Clinton performed badly with Wisconsin Democratic primary voters who view honesty as an important characteristic in a candidate.
Clinton lost to her competitor, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), by double digits in Tuesday's primary contest in Wisconsin, a defeat that can be partially attributed to her failure to convince Democratic voters in the state that she is honest.
According to exit polls provided by CNN, Sanders bested Clinton by more than a 4-to-1 margin among primary voters who named honesty as the top quality in a candidate. Sanders won votes from 83 percent of these voters, while 16 percent cast their ballots for Clinton.
Polling also showed that nearly 4-in-10 Wisconsin Democratic primary voters did not believe that the former secretary of state is honest and trustworthy, while 6-in-10 disagreed. Among voters who did not consider Clinton honest, Sanders captured 91 percent of the vote.
Eighty-nine percent of Democratic voters who went to the polls in Wisconsin viewed Sanders as trustworthy, about 30 percentage points more than those who believed Clinton to be honest.
Clinton’s honesty scores have fallen since the controversy surrounding her use of private, unsecured email at the State Department emerged more than a year ago, a matter that has created hurdles for her presidential campaign. Clinton has faced repeated inquiries about the FBI investigation into her use of personal email. The investigation is said to be in its final stages.
Scores of emails on Clinton’s server have been found by the government to contain classified information, though the messages were not marked classified when they originated on the system. Clinton has said repeatedly that she did not send or receive material marked classified on her email.
Ahead of the primary in Wisconsin, the editorial board of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel warned voters that Clinton’s "horrible" track record on transparency raised concerns. The editorial board specifically cited the email investigation.
"Clinton may have violated national security laws by making top secret documents vulnerable to hackers and available to people without proper security clearance," the editorial board wrote. "In addition, regardless of Clinton’s excuses, the only believable reason for the private server in her basement was to keep her emails out of the public eye by willfully avoiding freedom of information laws. No president, no secretary of state, no public official at any level is above the law."
Even in states where Clinton has defeated Sanders, primary voters who care about honesty overwhelming voted against her, which could spell trouble for the former secretary of state in a general election should she capture the nomination.
Sanders beat Clinton handily among voters who rate honesty as a top candidate quality in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio, all of which Clinton won in primary contests last month.