Oliver Willis:
Which, of course, is working brilliantly for Trump. The John McCain insult? Remember when that was supposed to bring Trump's campaign to a screeching halt? Nahhh -- the new (post-McCain) YouGov poll has Trump at 28% and Jeb Bush in second place at 14%.
Which brings me to new Gallup polling on Hillary Clinton:
Hillary Clinton's [favorable] rating has slipped to 43% from 48% in April. At the same time, Clinton's unfavorable rating increased to 46%, tilting her image negative and producing her worst net favorable score since December 2007.
You know when she was riding high? When she wasn't having kaffeeklatsches with ordinary voters and ordering Chipotle burrito bowls on bus-tour dinner breaks. She was riding high around the time Texts from Hillary went viral:
We liked her in 2012, when we thought she had swagger. The phone obviously has a bad connotation now, but she could benefit from getting some of that swagger back.
I think everybody learned the wrong lesson from 2012. It wasn't that a presidential candidate has to seem "regular" and "relatable" to win in 2016. Voters in 2012 weren't rejecting a rich guy; they were rejecting a rich guy who seemed as if he'd love to fire them. And who barely seemed to have human feelings.
Hillary is political royalty. She might get her groove back if she acts as if she is, and as if she kind of enjoys her power, and knows how to leverage it. And I don't mean by being rude to the press -- ordinary (non-Republican) voters don't care about that. I mean by seeming larger than life, and thus seeming like a big enough force to tackle America's problems.
Bill Clinton and Barack Obama can seem elite while also seeming like champions of the people. Hillary has pulled that combination off in the past. She needs to get back to that.
Crossposted at No More Mr. Nice Blog
