More than one-third of primary voters who cast ballots in the Democratic presidential primary in New York do not trust Hillary Clinton, according to a review of exit polls.
Thirty-six percent of Democratic primary voters in New York said Tuesday that Clinton is not honest or trustworthy, exit polls provided by CNN show. Sixty percent said that Clinton can be trusted.
While Clinton beat Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) by double digits in her home state of New York and remains the frontrunner, the exit poll data show that the former secretary of state continues to have difficulty convincing voters of her honesty, which could present hurdles in the general election should she win the Democratic nomination.
Only 14 percent of primary voters answered that Sanders is not honest.
Among those who do not trust Clinton, 84 percent voted for Sanders. Slightly less who answered that she is honest cast their ballots for Clinton, who represented New York in the U.S. Senate in the early 2000s.
Sanders, a self-described socialist, significantly outperformed Clinton among voters who rate honesty as the "top candidate quality." Eighty percent of these voters supported Sanders over Clinton in the primary, while 20 percent voted for the former first lady.
Overall, about one-quarter of Democratic primary voters in New York view honesty as the most important quality for their choice candidate, according to the exit polls.
Clinton beat Sanders in the Empire State on Tuesday, winning 58 percent of the vote to his 42 percent. Clinton was widely expected to win her home state of New York.
Clinton has performed badly among voters who care about honesty in primary states that she has won and lost. Most recently, Sanders trumped Clinton significantly among voters in Wisconsin who rate honesty as the most important candidate quality, and the Vermont senator went on to upset Clinton in the state. Similar results emerged from Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio, all of which Clinton won in contests last month.
One-quarter of Sanders supporters nationwide say they would not vote for Clinton in a general election should she become the nominee, according to a McClatchy-Marist poll released earlier this month.
Voters have grown increasingly averse to trusting Clinton amidst revelations about her use of personal email at the State Department. More than 2,000 emails on Clinton’s server contain classified information, the government has determined, some of them of the highest "top secret" classification. Clinton has maintained that she never sent nor received information marked classified on her personal email and that she never did anything wrong.
Clinton’s email is currently the subject of an FBI investigation, and agents are reportedly looking into whether classified information may have been criminally mishandled. Clinton has described the probe as a "security review."