Trump, Clinton fight unfavorable ratings
As conventions of both political parties dominate the news, something unprecedented has come into full focus — the next president will have to overcome historic unfavorable images among the American people.
The candidate who can turn around the most voters who now see both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as unlikeable will win the election.
So, who has the best chance of accomplishing that goal? Will it be Trump, whose rambunctious and freewheeling style has resulted in his record-setting victory over 16 primary rivals? Or will it be Clinton, who has again and again been found to be an untrustworthy serial liar?
The Washington Post, which generates almost daily news and commentary favorable to Clinton, has uncharacteristically produced a video of “A millennial’s guide to Clinton scandals of the ‘90s.”
It is captioned, “Nannygate, Travelgate, Whitewater, Filegate: it’s tough to remember all the scandals that plagued then-President Bill and Hillary Clinton through the ‘90s. For millennials – here’s what you missed. For everyone else, here’s a refresher.”
The six-minute review accompanies an Aaron Blake commentary describing the political decline of the woman who will be officially named the Democrat nominee this coming week.
Blake writes, “… it’s hard to overstate just how bad Clinton’s numbers are” and cites a new Washington Post-ABC News poll showing that 57 percent of registered voters hold an unfavorable view of her.
“Either way you slice it, Clinton’s image is as bad or worse than it has ever been.”
The report goes on to say that “Trump was clearly on worse footing with his image than Clinton” back in May, suffering a 15-point gap of unfavorable over favorable ratings. That has now fallen to just five points.
If history is any guide, the remaining gap disappears now that the Republican convention saw a strong showing by the nominee, who has brought all but the most stubborn into his camp.
Even before the convention, the poll showed Trump leading Clinton by 11 points on the question of who could bring the needed change to Washington. He’s seen as the promise to shake up the system — clearly just what those record numbers of primary voters have said they wanted.
The National Review has just provided “Ten Reasons Why Trump Could Win” including a discussion of Trump struggling with “embarrassing misdemeanors, Clinton with high crimes.”
“She may be delighted at not having been indicted, but FBI Director Comey confirmed to the nation that she was an inveterate liar, paranoid, conspiratorial, and incompetent.”
The story concludes, “… for a variety of reasons, an unlikely Donald Trump has become a liberal’s worst nightmare, not so much for what he says or represents, but because he still could win — and win in a way, along with the Congress and the prospect of a new Supreme Court, that we have not witnessed in 80 years.”
Yes, I realize that the National Review is as conservative as The Washington Post is liberal. It’s very noteworthy, however, that writers for the two opposites discuss a possible outcome that surely must have Democrats worried.
What is the liberal party’s reaction to this?
Democrat chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has given us sort of an answer in USA Today when denouncing the two lines in Melania Trump’s address that have produced way-overblown cries of plagiarism:
“That (speech) demonstrates how not ready and unprepared” Trump is.
If that’s the best they’ve got, then this won’t be much of a contest.
I'm sure there’s much more the left wing party has to offer in advancing a policy of burgeoning government that we will hear about in the week ahead.
Richard Greene is a former Arlington mayor and served as an appointee of President George W. Bush as regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.
This story was originally published July 22, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Trump, Clinton fight unfavorable ratings."