NH Focus Group: Dems Want Hillary to Give Up Emails, Wouldn’t Mind Jeb as ‘Consolation Prize’ Because ‘He’s Moderate’ on Amnesty, Common Core

AP/Elise Amendola/John Raoux
AP/Elise Amendola/John Raoux
Democrats in a New Hampshire focus group want a third-party arbiter to examine Hillary Clinton’s private emails and would not mind Jeb Bush as a “consolation prize” because of his moderate views on amnesty and Common Core, which may explain why not one Republican in the focus group said they would vote for Bush in the first-in-the-nation primary if it were held today.
According to Bloomberg News, Democrats in the focus group reportedly “contradicted claims by Clinton’s team that voters aren’t worrying about her e-mails,”–they reportedly said how Clinton handled the email scandal “disappointed them and made her more vulnerable to lost support from others.” Democrats in the focus group “also said she should allow a third party to examine her private e-mail server so that the issue doesn’t give Republicans ammunition going forward.”
“It seems just like a lack of judgment to do that, and to—you—be the one deciding whose, what e-mails you’re going to delete or not,” said Alice, a 60-year-old public health administrator. “If anything, she should have released everything and a third party can decide what’s relevant.”
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 46% of Democrats, along with a majority of Americans, wanted Clinton to turn over her emails to a third-party arbiter. And another 41% of Democrats, along with a majority of Americans, “said they supported the Republican-controlled congressional committee’s effort to require Clinton to testify about the emails.”
Dianne, a Democrat in the focus group, said, “I want Hillary to win but I could live with Jeb Bush” because “he’s pretty moderate” on immigration and education issues like Common Core.
“I think as a consolation prize, I would take that above Mitt Romney.”
A previous Saint Anselm College/Bloomberg poll found that 41% of likely Republican New Hampshire primary voters said Bush’s views on immigration was a “deal-killer.”
Though the Tuesday focus groups, which consisted of “two 90-minute sessions of 10 registered voters from each party, “aren’t large enough to constitute a scientific sample,” Bloomberg noted that “they could reflect the early emotional contours of the race.”

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