For the last few weeks, the political narrative of the mainstream media has been that Hillary Clinton is back. According to the media, Hillary shone in the first Democrat debate and then outdid herself with that testimony before the Benghazi committee in Congress. The confident Mrs. Clinton was re-establishing herself as the front runner for the presidency according to the media, and the Republican field of candidates were in chaos.
Yesterday and today, we got the first real reality check on that media narrative, and, like much of what appears in the mainstream media, it turned out to be more Democrat talking points than reality. Three different polling organizations released polls for three states: South Carolina, Colorado, and Florida. The polls matched Hillary against the top six GOP candidates in head to head races. In all three states, Hillary lost to every one of the Republican candidates. This is her worst showing ever in polls like these, and it is a significant decline from where she was prior to that first debate and the testimony in the House. For Hillary to lose to the Republicans in South Carolina is no surprise; SC is a strong Republican state. Florida and Colorado, however, are important swing states that president Obama carried both in 2008 and 2012. In Colorado, the closest result comes when Donald Trump beats Mrs. Clinton by "only" 11%; the other Republicans have larger margins over her. It's also not close in Florida. The GOP's leading candidates are ahead on average by 8% over Mrs. Clinton and already have 50% of the voter.
Obviously, these polls do not tell us who will win in 2016. They do, however, tell us that there was no bump for Hillary's campaign after that boring and lackluster debate. She also got no bump from her testimony before Congress. Despite the media narrative, too many people realized that Clinton confirmed during that testimony that she had intentionally lied to the American people and the families of the victims about the nature of the attack in Benghazi.
Most likely, the mainstream media will find some other reason to proclaim optimism about the fortunes of their favorite candidate, Mrs. Clinton, but we all ought to recognize that the days when the mainstream media could actually control the views of the public have long since ended.
Yesterday and today, we got the first real reality check on that media narrative, and, like much of what appears in the mainstream media, it turned out to be more Democrat talking points than reality. Three different polling organizations released polls for three states: South Carolina, Colorado, and Florida. The polls matched Hillary against the top six GOP candidates in head to head races. In all three states, Hillary lost to every one of the Republican candidates. This is her worst showing ever in polls like these, and it is a significant decline from where she was prior to that first debate and the testimony in the House. For Hillary to lose to the Republicans in South Carolina is no surprise; SC is a strong Republican state. Florida and Colorado, however, are important swing states that president Obama carried both in 2008 and 2012. In Colorado, the closest result comes when Donald Trump beats Mrs. Clinton by "only" 11%; the other Republicans have larger margins over her. It's also not close in Florida. The GOP's leading candidates are ahead on average by 8% over Mrs. Clinton and already have 50% of the voter.
Obviously, these polls do not tell us who will win in 2016. They do, however, tell us that there was no bump for Hillary's campaign after that boring and lackluster debate. She also got no bump from her testimony before Congress. Despite the media narrative, too many people realized that Clinton confirmed during that testimony that she had intentionally lied to the American people and the families of the victims about the nature of the attack in Benghazi.
Most likely, the mainstream media will find some other reason to proclaim optimism about the fortunes of their favorite candidate, Mrs. Clinton, but we all ought to recognize that the days when the mainstream media could actually control the views of the public have long since ended.
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