The Gallup poll asked 1,014 adults what comes to mind when they hear the names Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. It was conducted Feb. 13-14 and released this week, and found that people most associated Clinton with:
- Dishonest/liar/don’t trust her/poor character (21 percent)
- Dislike her (9 percent)
- Like her (8 percent)
- Capable of being president/qualified (7 percent)
- Criminal/crooked/thief/belongs in jail (7 percent)
- Experienced (5 percent)
- Good politician (3 percent)
- Strong (3 percent)
- Wouldn’t be good for the country (3 percent)
Significantly, Gallup didn’t suggest answers for those who were surveyed. It was an open-ended question. All total, 51 percent of Americans have a negative view of her.
- Socialist (12 percent)
- Older/aged (6 percent)
- Favorable (5 percent)
- Fresh face/new ideas/change for the better (5 percent)
- Honest/trustworthy (4 percent)
- Crazy/delusional/idiot/unrealistic (4 percent)
- Unfavorable (4 percent)
- Cares about the people/for the middle class/fair (3 percent)
- I like him (3 percent)
- Liberal/progressive (3 percent)
- Strong/opinionated (3 percent)
- Communist (3 percent)
- Giving money away/free stuff/expensive ideas/idealist (3 percent)
Gallup did not release data for answers that totaled less than 3 percent.
“Although many Americans cannot articulate much that is of substance when asked about Sanders, the most frequent comments about him revolve around his unique ideological branding as a democratic socialist and his advanced age,” Gallup’s Frank Newport and Lydia Saad wrote in an online analysis. “By contrast, the comments about Clinton are more personal in nature, including a large number of mentions of her lack of honesty and character, along with positive associations as a competent and well-qualified public servant.
Newport and Saad added, “Unfortunately for Clinton, the negative associations currently outnumber the positive ones by a sizable margin, and even among Democrats, the negatives are fairly high. Throughout her more-than two-decades-long career in the public eye as first lady, U.S. senator, secretary of state, two-time presidential candidate and bestselling author, she has acquired a fairly well-developed image among Americans — for better and for worse.”
