Dec. 3, 2014: Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks in Gaston Hall at Georgetown University in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Hillary Clinton’s personal ratings continue to slip. Yet the Democratic presidential hopeful still garners higher favorable ratings than many in the 2016 GOP field, according to a new Fox News poll released Wednesday.
The number of voters who have a positive opinion of Hillary Clinton is down nine percentage points since last year. Currently, 45 percent have a favorable view of her. That’s down from 47 percent in late March and 54 percent last summer (June 1-3, 2014).
Clinton’s negative rating stands at 49 percent, up from 43 percent last June.
CLICK TO READ THE POLL RESULTS
The downward shift in Clinton’s favorability over the last year comes from a decline in positive views among both independents (-11 points) and Republicans (-15 points).
At the same time, views among Democrats have barely budged: 82 percent have a favorable opinion of Clinton today. It was 84 percent a year ago June. No one in the GOP field comes anywhere close to that level of popularity within their party.
There are four on the GOP side who receive 50 percent or better among self-identified Republicans: former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (58 percent), former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (56 percent), Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (54 percent) and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (51 percent).
Clinton held a press conference March 10 about her use of private e-mail instead of the government system while she was secretary of state. In addition, there have been reports about financial donations by foreign governments to the Clinton Foundation since February. In late April, the foundation admitted to errors in how the contributions were reported.
Clinton formally announced her candidacy April 12.
While Clinton is underwater by four percentage points, some potential Republican contenders are in worse shape. More voters view Jeb Bush negatively than positively by seven points (37 vs. 44 percent). Similarly, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is viewed more negatively by eight points (27 vs. 35 percent). At the bottom of the pack is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has a net negative of minus 17 points (28 vs. 45 percent).
About as many voters view Paul positively as negatively (34 vs. 35 percent) and Huckabee has exactly the same number rating him favorably as unfavorably (35 vs. 35 percent).
Neurosurgeon Ben Carson (+10 points), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (+4 points) and Rubio (+4 points) each has a net positive rating. They each also have large numbers of people who have never heard of them. For example, 59 percent of voters are unable to rate Carson and 41 percent can’t rate Rubio — both of whom have announced their presidential aspirations.
Despite former President Bill Clinton’s ratings also taking a hit, he still grabs the top spot (among those tested): 54 percent of voters have a favorable view of him today, while 40 percent have an unfavorable view. A year ago that was 61 percent favorable vs. 34 percent unfavorable (June 1-3, 2014).
That also puts him ahead of President Obama, as 47 percent have a positive view of him, while 51 percent have a negative one.
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,006 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from May 9-12, 2015. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
