Clinton Hurt by Benghazi

Hillary Clinton’s leaving the administration was well timed. The President’s last term may have hit its high point at his inaugural address.

Latest polls show the President’s approval bobbing narrowly above and below 50 percent and his agenda adrift in a Washington roiling with scandal.

Even Clinton’s sky-high favorability has dropped as the Benghazi hearings have been relaunched by House Republicans.

Clinton is still near her career high in favorability, even at 58 percent. Her low points were in the 1995-97 period when Democrats lost the House of Representatives and during much of her senate career (2006-2010). But, since dropping out of partisan politics as the Secretary of the State, she has been well above 60 percent in favorability.

Although she handled the Benghazi hearings well as she was leaving office, the continued focus on it is harder for her to deflect. She is now more tied to President Obama, who is having a tough summer.

If she runs for president, expect her numbers to collapse toward the partisan divide of 50/50 that seems to frame all of our politics.

See:
Gallup: Hillary Clinton favorability slips slightly

Bloomberg: Clinton slips in poll after Benghazi hits, Christie’s up