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Clinton Team Worried by Shrinking Poll Numbers, Missteps
Friday, September 16, 2016 11:30 AM
By: Salena Zito
Hillary Clinton's team is worried about the Democratic presidential nominee's eroding front-runner status in the wake of tightening polls, her very public health crisis, and her "basket of deplorables" gaffe over the past 10 days.
The presidential race, once considered some to be a slam dunk for the former first lady, on Friday showed her up by 1.5 points over Donald Trump in the RealClearPolitics average of polls.
The poll tightening followed two weeks of unfavorable news beginning with the additional scrutiny over her email server when she was secretary of state, her secretive and bungled response to a health incident on 9/11, and her comments that slammed "half" of Trump's supporters as "a basket of deplorables — racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it," followed by a half-hearted retraction.
Campaign organizations, whether confident or panicked, have ways of sending clues on how they are handling a particular crisis without telling you directly said Alison Dagnes, political science professor at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.
"The Clinton team reaction to the 'basket of deplorables' remarks suggests that this wasn't some sort of gaffe. She did not really walk it back in her apology and her surrogates on social media and in well-placed opinion pieces reinforced that statement as fact," said Dagnes, "In short they are telling us that this was a good thing for her to say and that it helps bring out her base."
The handling of her health issue was a different story, and her top surrogates were quick to let her and the public know this type of secretive and bungled response could cause the Democratic Party to lose the presidential election.
"I would have definitely handled that differently. You have to be more proactive, less secretive," said Mike Mikus, a Democratic strategist steering Katie McGinty's bid for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania over Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey.
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell called her handling of the incident "regrettable" and said he was still "cautiously optimistic" about the race.
Clinton's cagey handling of the illness sustains the narrative that she is untrustworthy, in this week's CBS/New York Times poll trust continues to be an issue for Clinton with 63 percent of voters saying she is not honest and trustworthy — causing her supporters to flinch when she gives Trump more ammunition to use.
"Antibiotics can take care of pneumonia. What's the cure for an unhealthy penchant for privacy that repeatedly creates unnecessary problems?" tweeted David Axelrod, President Barack Obama's former top advisor.
A month ago the pressure was on Trump and how the debates were critical to him, now it is the Clinton camp that is filled with questions and doubt and the debates are critical to her, said Bruce Haynes a GOP media consultant and managing partner of the Washington based Purple Strategies.
"The trend line is disturbing," he said.
"The irony of this race thus far is when the spotlight falls on a particular candidate, they tend to sink; Clinton is sinking now because the focus has returned to her with renewed questions about her health and the honesty with which she and her campaign have discussed her health," he said.
Other signs that the Clinton team is not comfortable with the close race range from speeches given by former president Bill Clinton in Las Vegas that included several swipes at coal miners in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio who are turning towards Trump and coordinated Twitter attacks by Clinton celebrity supporters at anyone who does not stay in lock-step with their candidate.
On Friday a tweet-storm developed when outraged Hollywood and entertainment types on Twitter had a meltdown over the Tonight Show appearance of Trump — to them it was an affront that host and entertainer Jimmy Fallon did not treat the Republican nominee's appearance as an opportunity for a hard hitting interview.
"Some of this is just the disarray that comes from trying to staff for people like the Clintons," said Tom Nichols, a former Republican staffer in Washington.
"The Clinton reflex has always been to be deceptive even when telling the truth would be a lot easier, and this leaves everyone around them trying to play catch-up, and to keep their own stories straight even as Hillary is constantly changing hers," he said.
It's got to be brutal trying to staff a boss who hates telling the truth as clearly and quickly as possible so you have to distract the public by turning the attention away from her Nichols said.
The important thing for Clinton and her team to do is to stay focused on the message and not let the daily distractions get to them, said Mikus.
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