Strong majorities of American voters rate Hillary Clinton as not trustworthy and unconcerned about their needs and problems as the Democratic presidential candidate continues to battle her months-long private email scandal.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday demonstrates that 57 percent of voters believe Clinton to not be honest and trustworthy, while 52 percent say she does not care about the needs of average Americans. She scores the worst in these categories among all of the Democratic candidates for president.
Clinton also is currently enjoying her worst net favorable rating ever, as 51 percent of U.S. voters view her negatively and merely 40 percent positively. Meanwhile, her opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) has seen his favorable score jump 13 percentage points since May.
The former secretary of state is also the Democratic candidate that voters on the left name they are most likely not to support for their party’s nomination in 2016.
Republican candidates Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, and Donald Trump are all gaining on her nationally.
The survey, conducted between July 23 and 28, comes just as a federal judge is blasting the State Department for its lack of response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for more than 60 emails contained on Hillary Clinton’s private email system.
Many critics suspect that the government agency is protecting its former secretary of state.
Two inspectors general recently demanded the Justice Department open an investigation into the suspected mishandling of sensitive government information on Hillary Clinton’s personal email account, which she used exclusively during her time at the State Department.
An internal government review reported last week revealed that a least four emails sent from Clinton’s personal account during her time at State contained classified information. Her favorable and honesty ratings have been sinking since news broke about her personal email system--the server for which she has wiped clean--in March.
Nevertheless, Clinton has insisted that voters "should and do" trust her.