On Sunday’s This Week, ABC’s Matthew Dowd provided a dose of reality as to why Hillary Clinton continues to see her poll numbers decline and chalked it up to “the theory of Hillary is always much better than the actual reality of Hillary running for president.”
Dowd pointed out that Hillary’s declining popularity was not a new phenomenon for the Democratic frontrunner and how she experienced a similar decline when she ran for president in 2008.
Earlier in the segment, political commentator Cokie Roberts conceded that Clinton “has had a bad run” in recent months but made sure to tout how the Democratic has ”been listening to actual people’s real problems. And so, if she can make people believe that she is the person who can help fix their problems, that goes a long way.”
Dowd was not as optimistic as Roberts and stressed that “that’s a big step she’ll have to overcome" and proceeded to document how Clinton has historically been a very unpopular politician:
It happened in 2007-2008. Everybody loved her, she got in the campaign, they ended up disliking her. This year she got in, right before she got in everybody loved her. She gets in this race and her numbers drop. I think she’s going to have to figure out -- she has to confront two things, the majority of people dislike her and the majority of people distrust her.
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile even admitted that once Hillary becomes a candidate her poll numbers always decline, but argued that was typical among most politicians:
And Matt, the truth is, the American people hate politicians, they dislike politicians, they don't trust them, so she’s in that same category. When she ran for Senate, she was down. Again, non-candidate, she’s up as First Lady. Become a candidate, she goes down.
See relevant transcript below.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos
September 20, 2015
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I was listening to Mayor de Blasio a few minutes ago and what he said, more praise for Hillary Clinton right now, but she has had a bad run in these polls. Every single poll the last six weeks shows her dropping, Bernie Sanders moving up strongly in Iowa and New Hampshire.
COKIE ROBERTS: She has had a bad run. But last night, she talked about all kinds of things that voters actually care about and she did talk about caregiving as a big problem in families. Boy, if she takes a message like that out to the voters that would be very, very powerful and part of that is that she has been listening. She has been listening to actual people's real problems. And so, if she can make people believe that she is the person who can help fix their problems, that goes a long way.
MATTHEW DOWD: And I think that's big step she'll have to overcome. The interesting thing about Hillary is that every time before she gets in a race, the theory of Hillary is always much better than the actual reality of Hillary running for president. It happened in 2007-2008. Everybody loved her, she got in the campaign, they ended up disliking her. This year she got in, right before she got in everybody loved her. She gets in this race and her numbers drop. I think she’s going to have to figure out -- she has to confront two things, the majority of people dislike her and the majority of people distrust her. And both of those things is you can’t run a winning effort-
STEPHANOPOULOS: And Donna, I want to ask you about that though because there’s this talk inside the Democratic Party, oh yeah, she's behind in Iowa, oh yeah she’s behind in New Hampshire but she can lose both of those, Bernie Sanders isn't strong in the south. Is that happy talk? Can the front-runner really lose the first two?
DONNA BRAZILE: You know, I’ll never forget the pressure I was under as Al Gore's campaign manager when Bill Bradley came on strong when everybody was saying people didn't like him. He wasn't loose and all this other grey stuff. But you know the truth is, you have to win everywhere. You have to go out there and compete for every vote. And I think she has faced this turbulence with grace, I think she’s going to come through it. She's going to be a stronger candidate. She’s changing the ways she’s campaigned. And Matt, the truth is, the American people hate politicians, they dislike politicians, they don't trust them, so she’s in that same category. When she ran for Senate, she was down. Again, non-candidate, she’s up as First Lady. Become a candidate, she goes down.
