Poll: Email Scandal Capturing Voters' Attention Far More Than Hillary Wants

Hillary Clinton’s email scandal is getting more attention among voters than her campaign would like, and a new poll shows it’s also influencing how they’ll cast their ballots.

A Morning Consult poll conducted Friday through Sunday found 82 percent of surveyed registered voters have paid “a lot of or some attention” to the story of Clinton’s private server and classified material found in emails sent or received outside of secure government email.

A full 60 percent said the controversy would be “somewhat or very important” to their 2016 vote. That included 63 percent of self-described independents.

Just a little over a third — 34 percent — said they were “satisfied with Clinton’s explanations of her handling of the private server,” with more than half — 52 percent — dissatisfied, including 56 percent of independents.

A Gallup poll last year found a record number of American voters identifying themselves as independent — 42 percent, as compared to 31 percent ascribing to the Democratic Party and 25 percent picking the GOP.

In mid-July, Clinton had 48 percent favorability in the Morning Consult poll and that number has declined to 43 percent.

She has the support of 50 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) climbing to 24 percent. Just a few weeks ago, Clinton led Sanders by 44 points.

Clinton’s emails got wide play on the Sunday shows, with House Select Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) on ABC.

Gowdy says he “has no idea” at this point if Clinton broke the law, but “most of the explanation she’s given for why she did, I have been proven to be demonstrably false.”

Clinton is scheduled to testify in open session before Gowdy’s committee in October.

“I don’t use the word ‘lie.’ I’d just tell you it’s false. Whether or not she knew it was false at the time she said it, you’re going to have to ask her. I can just tell you that we found 15 documents that should have been produced in the State Department that she did not produce to the State Department. But that’s just one of the five explanations she’s given with respect to her email arrangement that has also proven to be false,” Gowdy said.

“So whether she’s just terribly mistaken a lot, whether there’s an intent to deceive, I’m not smart enough to be able to answer that question. I can just tell you this: she’s wrong.”