Politics

Bill and Hillary Clinton are back at the top of the political game, perhaps setting their sights for something more

Jeff Winkler Contributor
Font Size:

In an environment in which Democrats all over the country are fighting for their political survival, approval ratings are low and the party is at risk of losing its grip on Congress, two high-profile Democrats are thriving – Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The comeback couple is looking good these days. A recent Bloomberg survey that measured the popularity of several politicians showed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the lead with a favorability rating of 64 percent. Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, was not listed in the Bloomberg survey but a separate Gallup poll this week shows that he is a bigger asset to Democrats than President Obama.

That is a significant contrast from the 2008 primaries, when both Clintons had lower-than-average ratings. In April 2008, Hillary Clinton had a 55 percent unfavorable rating among registered voters, according to an August 2008 Washington Post-ABC poll. Bill Clinton, who was chastised for several comments he made on the campaign trail, held a 47-point favorable rating among registered voters in April 2008 , just 10 points above his worst rating as a sitting President.

Now, however, the couple is riding high again.

Plenty of attention has been given to Bill Clinton’s impressive and relentless campaigning for Democratic candidates and polls show what most people already know: The former president can go places, and perform tricks, that Obama – or any politician – can’t.

Bill Clinton has campaigned for more than 65 candidates at nearly 100 events in an effort to get out the vote, according to the Associated Press.

While both the current and former president are crisscrossing the country to try to give candidates a boost – Obama is currently campaigning on the West coast – the Gallup poll released this week shows that Clinton’s effectiveness is much greater among supporters of both parties and independents.

The ex-president understands “how normal ‘walking-around’ folks are feeling,” Paul Begala, a confidante and former top strategist, told The Washington Post. “Both the right and the left have mocked that I-feel-your-pain empathy, but Americans have always liked it. It’s the core of him, even more than the brain. It’s real.”

Part of Clinton’s appeal might be the country’s love for all things antique, especially presidents.

“All [Clinton is] doing is energizing the base,” said professor Stephen Wayne, the American Government Field Chair at Georgetown University. “The Democratic base has fond memories of the Clintons and he was a very partisan president which made him popular within his own party and at the same time unpopular in the opposition.”

Wayne noted that Truman was very unpopular during while in office and even during Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidency, but that all changed with time. The same is true for Jimmy Carter who Wayne said was polling very well during Clinton’s worst years of approval ratings.

“You remember that they were president and you think of them fondly and you don’t think of all the things they did or that happened that you didn’t like,” said Wayne. “So the partisan people like Truman and Clinton are remembered fondly by the partisans.”

However, several Republicans who worked with Clinton in the past have come out recently to reminisce about that time and point out that he was a much more pragmatic leader than they perceive Obama to be.

The other half of the power couple, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is seeing her own popularity rise during this campaign season.

Heritage Vice President for Government Relations Michael Franc said the reason for this sudden popularity is perspective. Like President Clinton during his last years in office, the Secretary of State has been working as a Democratic-centrists said Franc. While that has always been where she was on the political spectrum, it now shows more clearly because of the current administration’s shift to the left.

“With the ascent of Obama and his appointees, his style of governing, the ascent of Reid and Pelosi and their coalitions, the ideological center of gravity has moved dramatically toward the left,” said Franc.

“So someone like Clinton, who is where she’s always been, now looks like the center. … People are getting a taste of what a real liberal radical agenda looks like and they don’t really associate her with that,” Franc added.

Hillary Clinton’s high favorables are one of the reasons why rumors surfaced this month that she might be called upon to help out her former rival Barack Obama by replacing Vice President Joe Biden on the 2012 ballots. While all sides quickly sought to quash the chatter, the fact that some people would like to see her on the ticket is a testament to her popularity.

While even seasoned Democrats are in trouble this election cycle, the Clinton name, which will not appear on any ballot, seems unaffected by the problems their party have. It also shows that this isn’t the Clinton’s first rodeo. The couple has endured many up and downs in their political careers.

“The one thing that has positioned [the Clintons] where they are today is experience, the incredible reservoir of experience they have in local politics and generational politics,” said Republican strategist Kevin Madden. “They’ve been fully weatherized for all the elements of politics.”

It is that political savvy that makes some question whether Bill Clinton’s relentless campaigning has reasons that go beyond helping Democrats hold on to control in Congress.

“My suspicion in his campaigning, he’s building up Hillary’s rolodex,” said Franc. “They’re getting a lot of commitments, political debts that can be redeemed sometime in the future. ”

“I don’t think these are random acts,” he added. “They’re a very political shrewd couple and still seem to be Clinton Inc.”

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel