Two Democratic Party pollsters say President Barack Obama is hurting Hillary Clinton's presidential chances in 2016.
Obama's "high-risk immigration gamble" last week halting the deportations of 5 million illegal immigrants is just the latest thorn in the side of his former secretary of State, write Douglas E. Schoen, former pollster for President Bill Clinton, and Patrick H. Caddell, former pollster for President Jimmy Carter, in a Monday op-ed in
The Wall Street Journal.
Hillary Clinton already was seeing her support faltering, the men write. Only 43 percent polled during the midterm elections said they think she would make a good president. Against an unnamed Republican candidate, Clinton lost 40 percent to 34 percent.
Clinton's favorability already had slipped from 59 percent in 2009 to 43 percent in September in a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll. Obama's unilateral doubling-down on his unpopular policies after the election will only hurt her further, Schoen and Caddell say.
"Mrs. Clinton would likely inherit a damaged party — and as a former member of his administration, she would struggle with the consequences of Mr. Obama’s go-it-alone governance," the two write.
In addition to amnesty, Obamacare continues to be unpopular with the public, and Obama has been unwilling to grant approval to the Keystone XL oil pipeline, even though voters overwhelmingly favor it.
Clinton can try to distance herself from Obama, but if the president and Democratic Party continue losing support, she may have to give up her White House ambitions altogether, Schoen and Caddell say.
Foreign policy will be a "minefield," they say because Clinton served as Obama's secretary of State when he was had no coherent strategy against Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Iran nuclear program.
Clinton faces the unenviable task of distancing herself from Obama while trying not to alienate the liberal Democratic base that votes in primaries.
"Barack Obama could end up beating Hillary Clinton yet again," the pollsters write.
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