Posted by Frank James at 2:58 pm CDT
The Gallup poll people have a new poll out today on Americans' perceptions of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) It confirms the conventional wisdom. She's very polarizing, respected for her obvious intelligence but frequently disliked for her politics. 
"Many Republicans say they have no positive impressions of Clinton and many Democrats say they have no negative impressions of her," said the Gallup anaysis. "However, beyond these differences, the basic views across party lines are similar."
One response that jumped out at me is that she is perceived as being "wishy-washy" by a significant percentage of those polled, Republicans and Democrats alike.
When Americans pick presidents, obviously wishy-washiness is not main trait they're seeking. So if Clinton is seriously considering running for president in 2008 as many assume, this is a clear area of weakness.
Here's an intriguing result: The same percentage of Republicans, Democrats and independents--4 percent--said they "like or admired" her for her "commitment to her husband/forgiveness," a Monica Lewinsky related question. But that was a more important attribute for Republicans than Democrats. It made the Republicans top five of admired traits but not the Democrats.
• 
• 
• 
• 
Comments
I'm just shocked that people find Hillary to be wishy-washy. Could all her conflicting policy positions have anything to do with it?
Posted by: Bill | July 7, 2006 9:46 AM
As a liberal, I have to say I wouldn't have used "wishy-washy" as my primary adjective for Hillary Clinton. It just can't oust "scary" for the primary spot.
Posted by: John | July 7, 2006 1:45 PM
Hillary Clinton - Six years ago who would have thought of her as the "conservative" canidate of the democratic party?
Posted by: Terry | July 7, 2006 6:58 PM