Democratic Presidential Hopeful Notes Her Favorability Ratings as Senator and Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton spoke to a group of African American and Hispanic journalists Friday afternoon, and responded to a question about “mistrust” of her among the American people by asking reporters to remember her high approval ratings when she was both a U.S. Senator and the Secretary of State.
“How would you lead a nation where a majority of Americans mistrust you?,†Washington Post reporter Ed O’Keefe asked Clinton.
“When I started running for the Senate in New York a lot of the same things were said,” Clinton told the audience, a joint convention of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists. “I won. I worked hard for the people of New York, and I was re-elected win 67 percent of the vote, after I demonstrated that I would be on their side, that I would fight for the people I represented.”
“I ran a really hard campaign against Barack Obama, as I think everybody remembers,” she continued, to laughter. “It got a little contentious from time to time. And to my surprise, he turns around and asks me to be secretary of state, because he trusted me.”
“And then I served as secretary of state. And when I left I had a 66 percent approval rating,” she said, to applause.
“Ask yourselves, were 67 percent of the people in New York wrong? Were 66 percent of the American public wrong? Or maybe just maybe when I’m actually running for a job, there is a real benefit on those on the other side to stir up as much trouble as possible,” Clinton concluded.
Clinton also noted that the perception of mistrust “doesn’t make me feel good,” and said, “I recognize I have work to do.”
Polls released this week show Clinton with growing leads over Donald Trump, including an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that puts her 9 points over Trump, a Fox News poll that puts her 10 points over Trump, and a McClatchy/Marist poll that puts her 15 points over Trump.
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