Hillary Clinton may have faced a series of missteps last week, but when it comes to her ability to handle key domestic and international issues, the majority of Americans believe the former secretary of state has what it takes should she be elected president in 2016.
In fact, according to a poll released on Monday, most Americans believe Clinton would do a better job than President Obama on every issue.
According to a CNN/ORC International survey, 63% of respondents said Clinton would do a good job on issues pertaining to foreign policy, and 61% said the same of Clinton’s ability to deal with terrorism. She also did well on the domestic front, with 63% saying she’d do a good job handling the economy and 57% on health care.
Obama fared significantly weaker. Just 40% said they approved of the commander-in-chief’s foreign policy, with 49% saying they thought Obama was doing a good job on handling terrorism. Meanwhile, 38% approved of how the president is handling the economy. Just 36% said they liked the way Obama was handling health care.
Clinton also had higher approval ratings than Obama on environmental policy, helping the middle class, illegal immigration, gun policy and the federal budget deficit.
CNN Polling director Keating Holland wrote that the results indicate that the “president’s low marks on most issues might not drag Clinton down if she runs for the White House again.” The former first lady is currently on a book tour for her memoir “Hard Choices,” which hit bookshelves last week. The book tour is being seen as part of a months-long rollout leading up to her decision on if she’ll run for president. She has previously said that she’ll decide by the end of the year. Clinton, the early front-runner among potential 2016 Democratic presidential contenders, has faced a series of gaffes since the book came out – remarking she was “dead broke” when she and her husband left the White House and getting testy when asked about her “evolution” on gay marriage. In addition, the recent escalation of violence in Iraq is a reminder of her 2002 Senate vote to green light military action in that country. After all, one of the biggest nuggets coming out of Clinton’s book is an acknowledgment that her vote was wrong – “plain and simple.” She has three book signing events on Monday—two in Toronto and then another in Cambridge, Mass.Recommended
