Opinion: Some troubling signs for Clinton

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A new national poll just out reveals some troubling signs for Hillary Clinton.

The telephone poll of 1,554 people by the N.Y. Times/CBS News shows this morning that while 80% think it likely or somewhat likely she’ll win the Democratic nomination and 60% believe she will win a general election, fully 40% see her unfavorably, more than for any other presidential candidate. ‘Neither men nor women fully trust that she is saying what she really believes, the poll found.’

Among registered voters, 40% of all women view her favorably, while 33% are unfavorable. Among men, the numbers are reversed with only 34% thinking positively about her and 47 thinking negatively.

Her strongest support comes from younger, less affluent, unmarried Democratic women. But the older the woman the less she likes the New York senator. Some 27% under age 45, 33% of those 45-64 and 40% of those over 64 view her negatively.

A majority of single women like her and 39% of married women do too. But another 39% of married women don’t like her, a significantly larger percentage than dislike her chief Democratic opponents, Barack Obama and John Edwards.

There was one hopeful sign in the poll’s trends. Her negative ratings, which started to spike after her candidacy announcement last winter, have now eased until they match her favorable ratings, a sign perhaps that her campaign’s communications and video efforts to soften her image are beginning to have an impact.

--Andrew Malcolm