New Poll: 45 Percent Say Clinton Email Scandal Worse Than Watergate

A new poll from Politico and Morning Consult found that nearly half of Americans consider Hillary Clinton’s email scandal worse than the controversy which destroyed Richard Nixon (a scandal Clinton herself worked on and learned from).

Forty-five percent of voters said they agreed with Trump’s claim that emailgate is worse than Watergate. Despite this powerfully negative view of Clinton’s email scandal, the Democratic nominee did not lose her lead on Trump in the poll, which was conducted after the latest FBI announcement of new evidence last week.

Clinton led Trump by three points (46 percent to 43 percent) in a two-way race, and by the same amount in a four-way race (42 percent to 39 percent, with Gary Johnson at 7 percent and Jill Stein at 5 percent). Before FBI Director James Comey revealed further evidence against Clinton last week, Clinton had a three-point lead on Trump in the four-way race, and a five-point lead in a head-to-head matchup.

The 45 percent of voters who see Clinton’s scandal as worse than Nixon’s represent less than the full amount of Trump’s support, even in a two-way race. Perhaps more revealing, voters ranked Clinton’s email scandal as equally bad as Trump’s sexually aggressive comments about women. This suggests that, rather than being influenced by such scandals, voters have made peace with the negativity of the race.

Thirty-nine percent of voters said the latest FBI bombshell would not affect their vote in November, while 33 percent said it made them much less likely to vote for Clinton. Most of those voters are already aligned against the former secretary of State, however.

Among undecided voters, 42 percent said the news made them less likely to pull the lever for Clinton, including 30 percent who said it made them much less likely to vote for her. Nevertheless, a full 41 percent said it made no difference either way.

When it comes to down-ballot races, support nearly evenly splits between Republicans and Democrats. Forty-four percent said they would vote for a Democrat for Congress, while 43 percent said they would vote for a Republican.

Americans in the survey were united on only one issue: they want the election to be over already. A full 71 percent said they strongly agreed that they wish the election had already ended.

Politico and Morning Consult conducted the poll online, involving 1,772 likely voters on Saturday and Sunday. The poll had a 2 percent margin of error.