America
Hillary Clinton's triple trouble - Trump, Sanders and emails
By
Arun Kumar Washington, Aug 23
If Republicans are hoping
to ride out the tornado that Donald Trump has come to be, Hillary
Clinton's troubles reflected in her falling poll numbers are posing a
dilemma for the Democrats too.
While the brash real estate
mogul's popularity seems to be growing by the day to the chagrin of the
Republican establishment, the former secretary of state has much more to
contend with than just her self-proclaimed socialist rival Bernie
Sanders.
The 73-year-old independent senator from Vermont seeking
Democratic nomination is drawing huge crowds everywhere with his tirade
against the "billionaire class" and fast closing the gap with Clinton
in the polls.
But it is the controversy surrounding her use of a
private server for sending emails during her four year stint at the
State Department that is denting Clinton's image and adding to her
growing trust deficit even as she remains the favourite of her party.
"Hillary
Clinton's poll numbers are like a leaky faucet: drip...drip... drip,"
as a pollster quipped after a recent poll found Clinton and Trump with
the worst overall favourability ratings and the lowest scores for being
honest and trustworthy in three swing states.
Clinton's flippant
comments about the email controversy haven't helped her any. She first
joked that she had taken to Snapchat because messages on it disappear
instantly. And when asked by reporters if she had wiped her server clean
before handing it over to the Justice Department and FBI investigators,
Clinton responded with "What, like with a cloth or something?"
Clinton's
falling poll numbers have also given an added impetus to speculation
about Vice President Joe Biden jumping into the presidential race.
Biden,
who begun exploring a presidential run a few weeks ago, reportedly
huddled Saturday with Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren, the rising
liberal star, who hasn't endorsed any candidate for the presidential
race so far.
Biden's entry into the race could really complicate
things for the former first lady as several recent polls show the vice
president more trustworthy than her.
But if he does enter, he will have a lot of catching up to do in the money race too.
According
to latest Federal Election commission filings Clinton has already
amassed a war chest of $67.5 million second only to $120 million raised
by her Republican rival Jeb Bush. Republican frontrunner Trump has
raised only $1.9 million, all on his own.
Notwithstanding her
troubles, numerous Indian Americans are involved in supporting the
Clinton campaign in various ways, according to Frank Islam, a member of
her campaign's national finance committee
"Many have given
campaign contributions. Several have contributed and are raising money;
and others are volunteering for the campaign," said the Azamgarh, Uttar
Pradesh, born Indian-American investor.
"Historically, Clinton
has always had a very good rapport with the Indian American community,"
Islam said noting, "When she first ran for Senate in 2000, the community
overwhelmingly supported the then first lady."
During her unsuccessful 2008 presidential run too, she had a strong Indian American backing, he told IANS.
Clinton
further strengthened her Indian American ties when she was secretary of
state by placing a strong emphasis on building better relations between
India and the US, Islam said.
Apart from the Indian community,
after six weeks of campaigning Clinton remains the best-known and
best-liked candidate for Democratic voters nationally, according to a
Gallup poll.
A new national CNN/ORC poll also shows Clinton still
leading in head-to-head match-ups with three top Republican candidates:
Jeb Bush 52/43; Donald Trump 51/45; Scott Walker 52/46.
But her declining numbers do pose a cause of worry for Clinton's dream of shattering the glass ceiling.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected]