Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton’s favorability numbers took a plunge in a new poll, fueling speculation Tuesday about Vice President Joseph R. Biden jumping into the race.
A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Monday showed more Americans view Mrs. Clinton negatively than they did a month ago, as scrutiny continues of her exclusive use of a private email account for official business as secretary of state and foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation.
Just 37 percent of American voters in the poll had a positive view of Mrs. Clinton, compared to 48 percent who view her negatively. Last month, the same poll showed her with an overall positive favorability score of 44 percent positive to 40 percent negative.
That’s a 15-point swing in the wrong direction for Mrs. Clinton.
“Joe Biden’s team undoubtedly saw the new NBC-Wall St. Journal poll, which showed a dramatic plunge in Hillary Clinton’s ratings,” Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at the independent polling and consulting firm Potomac Research Group, said in a daily bulletin Tuesday. “In our opinion, she has maybe six weeks to stop the bleeding; if she cannot, Biden will run,” he said.
Still, Mrs. Clinton continued to hold a more than 30-point lead over her Democratic rivals and two top Republican contenders, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and billionaire businessman Donald Trump, who both had worse favorability scores than hers.
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• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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